New Blog 1: Organ Procurement

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Organ Procurement

Following the advent of vascularized organ transplantation in the 1950s, improvements in the techniques of transplant surgery and in the management of patient immunosuppression have significantly increased the success of organ transplantation and the practicality of using transplantation to treat end-stage organ dysfunction. These successes have brought about an increased demand for donor organs.The number of patients listed on transplant waiting lists has increased steadily; at present, in excess of 101,000 people are awaiting transplantation in the United States. Attempts to increase the donor supply have been insufficient to cope with this increased need. With this discrepancy, the number of patients who have died while awaiting transplantation has increased as additions to the waiting list far exceed donor availability and number of transplants performed, as demonstrated in the following image.