Solving the Organ Shortage

There are currently over 120,000 people awaiting organ transplants in the United States.  Living organ donation may be the best way to chip away at this number.

The most common procedures among living donors are kidney and liver donations, which offer better outcomes for the recipients than donations from a deceased donor.  Living donors must undergo an intense screening process before giving up an organ.  They must also be relatively young.  The cutoff age for kidneys is typically 60 while the cutoff age for livers is typically 55.

After surgery, living donors’ remaining organs tend to recover quickly.  About a month after taking out half of the liver, it will regenerate into around 80 percent of its original size.  After a kidney is taken out, the remaining kidney will increase about 20 percent in size.

See the National Living Organ Donors Foundation for more information on living organ donation.

See Amanda Woerner, Living Organ Donation: A Solution to the Organ Shortage in the US?, Fox News, Feb. 24, 2014.