The success rates of transplant surgery have improved remarkably, but growing shortages exist in the supply of organs and tissues available for transplantation. Many Americans who need transplants cannot get them because of these shortages. The result: some of these people die while waiting for that "Gift of Life."

Each year, the National Kidney Foundation develops special public education programs aimed at increasing public awareness of the need for organ and tissue donation. Learning more about organ and tissue donation will help every American to make an informed decision about this important issue. Here are some facts everyone should know:

1. More than 60,000 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant; more than 2,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month.
2. Every day, 10 to 11 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow.
3. Because of the lack of available donors in this country, 1,998 kidney patients, 1,131 liver patients, 773 heart patients and 409 lung patients died last year while waiting for life-saving organ transplants.
4. About 10 percent of the patients currently waiting for liver transplants are young people under 18 years of age.
5. Acceptable organ donors can range in age from newborn to 65 years or more.
6. People who are 65 years of age or older may be acceptable donors, particularly of corneas, skin, bone and for total body donation.
7. An estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ donation, but less than half of that number become actual organ donors.
8. Vital organs may be recovered and transported thousands of miles to a transplant center for transplantation. This is due, in part, to advances in preservation techniques. Following are the approximate preservation times for a variety of organs and tissues.

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10. Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients by a national computer registry, called the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virginia.
11. Currently there are 54 organ procurement organizations (OPOs) across the country, which provide organ procurement services to some 275 transplant centers.
12. By federal mandate, all states must have some form of "Required Request" legislation, which requires hospitals within the state to set up a protocol for offering the next-of-kin of someone who has died the option of donating the organs and tissues of the deceased.
13. By signing a Uniform Donor Card, an individual indicates his or her wish to be a donor. However, at the time of death, the person's next-of-kin will still be asked to sign a consent form for donation. It is important for people who wish to be organ and tissue donors to tell their family about this decision so that their wishes will be honored at the time of death. It is estimated that about 35 percent of potential donors never become donors because family members refuse to give consent.
14. All costs related to the donation of organs and tissues are paid for by the donor program. A family who receives a bill by mistake should contact the hospital or procurement agency immediately.
15. There were 5,473 cadaveric donors in the U.S. in 1997, which represented a small increase over the total of 5,416 in 1996. Living donors increased from 3,524 in 1996 to 3,676 in 1997.
16. Donor organs and tissues are removed surgically, and the donor's body is closed, as in any surgery. There are no outward signs of organ donation and open casket funerals are still possible.
17. Acceptable organ donors are those who are "brain dead" (whose brain function has ceased permanently) but whose heart and lungs continue to function with the use of artificial life support. Brain dead is a legal definition of death.
18. Organ transplant recipients are selected on the basis of medical urgency, as well as compatibility of body size and blood chemistries, and not race, sex or creed.
19. Advances in surgical technique and organ preservation and the development of more effective drugs to prevent rejection have improved the success rates of all types of organ and tissue transplants.
20. About 87 percent of the kidneys transplanted from cadavers (persons who died recently) are still functioning well at one year after surgery. The results are even better for kidneys transplanted from living donors. One year after surgery, 93 percent of these kidneys were still functioning well.
21. Following are one-year patient and organ graft survival rates:

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23. Following is a comparison of the numbers of organ transplants done in 1997 and the numbers of individuals who remained on the national waiting list as of June 1998.

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25. *Due to multiple listings, the number of waiting list registrants exceeds the actual number of individuals waiting for organ transplants.
26. Of the single kidney transplants performed in 1997, 3,579 were from living donors and 7,770 were from cadaveric donors. Another 841 kidneys were transplanted in combination with pancreas transplants.
27. An estimated 50 bone marrow transplants are performed each month in the U.S. Marrow is collected from a pelvic bone using a special needle while the volunteer donor is under anesthesia. The majority of bone marrow transplants are done for leukemia.
28. In 1997, there were 35,209 corneal transplants done in the U.S. The number of Americans on waiting lists for corneas averages as high as 5,000 at any given time. Corneal transplantation results in improved vision in nearly 95 percent of those who undergo the procedure because of corneal disorders. Corneas are acceptable for donation regardless of abnormalities in vision.
29. Virtually all religious denominations approve of organ and tissue donation as representing the highest humanitarian ideals and the ultimate charitable act.

Data Sources:     June 1998
American Association of Tissue Banks
Eye Bank Association of America
National Marrow Donor Program
National Kidney Foundation, Inc.
UNOS Scientific Registry