Living donation
While it is important to talk about end-of-life decisions including
organ donation, it is becoming more common to donate organs and
partial organs while living. Kidneys are the most common organ donated
by living donors. Other organs that can be donated include a lobe
of a lung, partial liver, pancreas or intestine.
Although the decision to become a living donor
involves careful consideration, being a living donor offers others
an alternative to waiting on the national transplant waiting list
for an organ from a deceased donor.
Who can be a living donor?
While many people are willing to be living donors, not everyone
has the qualities necessary to participate in living donation.
Donors must be chosen carefully in order to avoid outcomes that
are medically and psychologically unsatisfactory.
While the individual circumstances of each potential
donor are discussed privately and tested to determine compatibility,
all potential donors must be genuinely willing to donate, physically
fit, in good general health; and free from high blood pressure,
diabetes, cancer, kidney disease and heart disease.
Individuals considered for living donation are
usually between 18-60 years of age. Gender and race are not factors
in determining a successful match.
Types of living donation
Although not all transplant centers perform all types, living
donation has expanded to include many variations since the practice
began in 1954, including:
• Related - Blood relatives
of transplant candidates including brothers, sisters, parents,
children (over 18 years of age), aunts, uncles, cousins, half
brothers & sisters, nieces and nephews.
• Non-Related - Individuals emotionally close to, but not
related by blood to transplant candidates, including spouses,
in-law relatives, close friends, coworkers, neighbors or other
acquaintances.
• Non-Directed - Individuals who are not related to or known
by the recipient, but make their donation purely out of selfless
motives. This type of donation is also referred to as anonymous,
altruistic, altruistic stranger, and stranger-to-stranger living
donation.
Paired donation - Consists of two kidney
donor/recipient pairs whose blood types are not compatible. The
two recipients trade donors so that each recipient can receive
a kidney with a compatible blood type.
For more information, go to www.transplantliving.org
or contact
your local transplant center.
