Benefits of Transplantation
Kidney transplant
Liver transplant
Heart transplant
Other types of transplant
How many people are waiting?
Benefits of Transplantation
Quality of life can be moderately to substantially improve by transplantation. Transplantation is a successful medical procedure nowadays. It is considered routine surgical practice for people with serious kidney, liver, heart or lung diseases. It is the treatment of choice for many diseases. Unfortunately, in most countries; a suitable organ is not available to meet the ever-increasing demand for transplantation.
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Kidney transplant
Kidney transplant are second only to corneal transplant as the most common transplant operation in the United States. There are over 9,000 kidney transplants performed each year. The diseases that most often create a need for kidney transplantation are glomerulonephritis, diabetes, hypertension and cystic kidney failure. People with failing kidneys have to undergo haemodialysis. However, dialysis can only replace about 5% of the function of two healthy kidneys, and life expectancy is lower for people on dialysis.
Kidney transplant operation is easier than all other major organ transplants. The patient can be treated with dialysis until a suitable kidney donor can be found. The healthy kidney is obtained from a living donor (may be a blood relative or an unrelated donor, such as a spouse) or from a donor that has recently died, but has not suffered kidney injury.
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Liver transplant
For people with end stage liver disease, transplantation is the only effective treatment available. The most common diseases which cause a need for liver transplantation are cirrhosis, some types of chronic hepatitis, acute liver failure, or inflammation of the bile ducts that lead into the liver (primary sclerosing cholangitis). Liver transplantation is surgery to remove a diseased liver and replace it with a healthy one. This kind of surgery has been done for more than 38 years. Many people have had liver transplants and now lead normal lives. Liver transplantation is usually done when other medical treatment cannot keep a damaged liver functioning. About 80 to 90 percent of people survive liver transplantation. Survival rates have improved over the past several years because of drugs like cyclosporine and tacrolimus that suppress the immune system and keep it from attacking and damaging the new liver.
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Heart transplant
Coronary heart disease is one of the major causes of early death today. Heart transplantation is an effective option: 85% of heart transplants are still working well after a year, and almost 70% after five years. In the three decades since the performance of the first human heart transplant in December 1967, the procedure has changed from an experimental operation to an established treatment for advanced heart disease. Approximately 2,300 heart transplants are performed each year in the United States.
In 1981, combined heart and lung transplants began to be used to treat patients with conditions that severely damage both these organs. As of 1995, about 500 people in the United States and 2,000 worldwide have received heart-lung transplants.
There have been two main barriers to increasing the number of successful operations. In 1983, the first barrier to successful transplantations--rejection of the donor organ by the patient--was overcome. The drug cyclosporine was introduced to suppress rejection of a donor heart or heart-lung by the patient's body. Cyclosporine and other medications to control rejection have significantly improved the survival of transplant patients. About 80 percent of heart transplant patients survive 1 year or more. About 60 percent of heart-lung transplants live at least 1 year after surgery. Research is under way to develop even better ways to control transplant rejection and improve survival. Organ availability is the second barrier to increasing the number of successful transplantations.
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Other types of transplant
For certain people with insulin-dependent diabetes a pancreas transplant may improve their production of insulin and reduce the risk of diabetic complications. This may be undertaken in conjunction with a simultaneous kidney transplant from the same donor, since kidney damage is a frequent complication of diabetes.
As transplantation develops, other procedures are also being developed. A number of centers now perform small bowel transplants to replace damaged sections of gut in people with severe Crohn's disease or cancer, for example. Multiple transplants combining several organs have also been carried out occasionally.
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How many people are waiting?
Currently, more than 68,000 people are currently waiting for a transplant around the world, and over 2,000 people are added to waiting lists each month. Every day 13 to 14 people die waiting for a transplant, and only about one-third of people waiting for transplant will receive one.
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