organ donation

A study led by M.B. Majella Doyle, MD, a Washington University lung transplant surgeon, shows that retrieving donor organs at a stand-alone facility is more efficient and less costly than in a hospital.

More than 80,000 people in the U.S. are on waiting lists for organ transplants. Some will have to wait for the death of a matching donor, but more and more people are receiving organs from living donors. In an effort to close the gap between organ supply and demand, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, the University of Michigan and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons are studying ways to reimburse living donors for some of their out-of-pocket expenses when they choose to donate an organ.

More than 80,000 people in the United States are on waiting lists for organ transplants. Some will have to wait for the death of a matching donor, but more and more people are receiving organs from living donors. In an effort to close the gap between organ supply and demand, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, the University of Michigan and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons are studying ways to reimburse living donors for some of their out-of-pocket expenses when they choose to donate an organ.

Photo by Bob Boston / WUSTL PhotoWhat might it cost to get more patients off kidney dialysis?Of the 55,000 Americans waiting for kidney transplants, last year only 13,000 had the operation. Some 3,000 others died on the waiting list. Part of the problem involves obtaining donated organs. Currently only half of potential organ donors actually donate, but even if every eligible donor donated, many on the waiting list still wouldn’t be helped. Living donors are another potential source of organs, and the transplants from living donors also have the greatest chance of success. Encouraging more people to donate a kidney while they are alive could put a big dent in the number of people on the waiting list, but how can society encourage more of those people to donate? Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota set up a mathematical model to determine whether it might be cost effective to pay people for their kidneys. Potential ethical issues aside, the researchers determined that society could break even by paying as much as $90,000 to those willing to part with a kidney for money.

Kidney recipient Barry Hammond (left) and his brother, kidney donor Brian.More than 50,000 people in the United States are waiting for kidney transplants. Most are waiting for someone who wants to be an organ donor to die, but each year only 9,000 people on the transplant waiting list get a kidney from someone who has died, while 16,500 on the list die. Transplants from living donors have the greatest chance of working for a long time and can happen quickly, often within a year. A living kidney donor may be a family member or friend between the ages of 18 and 65. They must be healthy and have a blood type that is compatible with the recipient’s blood type. But researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, have discovered something surprising. Many interested kidney donors are not taken up on their offers to donate because the recipients are afraid donors will be harmed. As a result, many potential donor kidneys go unused.