Living Organ Donation
Giving the gift of a kidney or a portion of the liver, pancreas or intestine, living donors offer patients an alternative to waiting on the national transplant list for an organ from a deceased donor although the majority of organ transplants come from deceased donors. The number of living organ donors is more than 6,000 per year, and one in four of these donors are not biologically related to the recipient.
Advantages of Living Organ Donation
- Living donors who are family members have a stronger genetic match which can decrease rejection risk.
- Living organ donation allows the procedure to be scheduled at a convenient time for both the donor and the recipient.
- Recipients of a living donor kidney transplant often see an immediate return to normal function.
What organs can living donors give?
Kidney
Individuals can donate one of their two kidneys to a recipient, making this the most common type of living organ donation. Living kidney donation could eliminate up to 83% of the national transplant waiting list.
Liver (Lobe)
People can donate one of two lobes of their liver. The liver cells in the remaining lobe regenerate after the donation until the organ has regrown to almost its original size. This occurs in both the donor and recipient.