Organ Donation – Saves another Life

During organ donation, solid organs like kidney, heart, pancreas, liver, bone marrow, eyes and limbs, are removed from the body of the donor and transplanted into the body of the recipient. Some of these organs can be preserved and utilized for future transplant. Vital organ like heart cannot be removed from a living person. Hence such organs are acquired from cadaver donors, who have died recently. Organs are separated from live donors in two cases

1)     When the organs are present in pairs. Example kidney

2)     When the removal of a portion of an organ does not effect the functioning of organ. Example liver, bone-marrow, pancreas

Legalization of transplantation of human organs has given rise to the concept of brain dead. Brain death is state of legal death. In this state the heart continues to beat and all the vital organs are kept alive and functional with the help of mechanical ventilation. This is a state during which the brain is dead and in an unrecoverable state – meaning – cannot be brought back to life. This condition is optimum to remove the organs for transplantation.

Consent of the Donors

Organ donation should happen only with the consent of the donor, if alive.  In most cases, the donor registers himself or herself as a donor where he agrees to donate specific organs on his death.  This is very common in the case of eye-donation and there are multiple organizations catering to this. After getting registered, the donors are issued a card which certifies their wish to donate organs. It is the donor’s responsibility to keep his family informed of his decision so that in case of death, the family can notify the organization that registered him.  The organizations try to reach the person in the earliest possible time to retrieve the organs after death. In some cases, the family of a victim of an accident may decide to donate the organs of the brain-dead victim. 

National Marrow Donor Program maintains a list of people willing to donate bone marrow to a stranger and here are some links given below where we can register ourselves as organ donors

http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/aodr/register.jsp

http://www.sgrh.com/subcat.aspx?id=51

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/roadshow.jsp

http://www.iaod.org/donor-registration-card-organ-donation.htm

Regulation of Organ Donation

Organ donation and transplant has always had a lot of regulation surrounding it. 

The reasons behind intense regulation are many, primary reason being exploitation and corruption. Seeing the high demand of organs, doctors and organ vendors try to exploit a common man by taking out his organs without his consent. Organ selling is legally banned in India but there are many areas where poor people are encouraged to sell their organs in return of money. On the ethical side, questions like - can a person who is mentally retarded be allowed to donate, can infants be donors, and so on have necessitated the stringent regulation of organ donation.

Does organ transplantation bring an end to the treatment procedure?

Once an organ is implanted into the body a long journey of recovery with intense medication begins. The body recognizes an implanted organ as a foreign body and the immune system wakes up. It tries to produce antibodies against the implanted organ and hence rejecting it. The patient is kept on strong immunosuppressant drugs for a long duration to allow the implanted organ to work properly.

Milestones Covered on the Road of Organ Transplant

• Transplantation of kidney was only feasible in the beginning but now transplantation of heart, liver, pancreas, skin, bone marrow, limbs intestines etc is also feasible.
• Now we have a wider choice as we can collect organs from both living and dead people.
• Discovery of strong immunosuppressant drugs has increased the success rate of organ transplants.
• Xenotransplantation or use of animal organs for human transplantation has takes us a step ahead. Example Chimpanzee kidneys were transplanted into patients with renal failure. A baboon heart was transplanted into a newborn infant.
• Syntheses of artificial organs for transplantation – Examples in this line are bionic eyes and ears, artificial heart.
• Organ from a single donor is being used for more than one patient by splitting it. Example split liver transplant where liver from a single donor was used for implantation into multiple recipients.
• Pioneering research – Stem cells have an enormous capacity to develop into any kind of tissue within the body including organs. Scientists aim to synthesize organs using the stem cells.

A large number of deaths have been reported to be due to the lack of organs ready for transplantation. Many patients live years together on expensive dialysis as they do not get a kidney donor. Lack of public awareness and inclination towards organ donation are main hurdles in this line. Galore of controversies and ethical issues surrounding organ donation accompanied by unawareness have made this procedure difficult. A voluntary organ donation saves another life.