In today's fast-paced world where technology rules, the medical profession is also
advancing. In 1991, 2,900 liver transplants were performed in the United States while there
were 30,000 canidates for the procedure in the United States alone (Heffron, T. G., 1993).
Due to shortages of available organs for donation/transplantation, specifically livers, once again
science has come to the rescue.
Although the procedure is fairly new in the United States, the concept of living organ
donation is fast growing. Living related liver transplantion was first proposed as a theoretical
entity in 1969 but it was not until almost twenty years later that the procedure became a clinical
reality (Heffron, T. G., 1993). Living related liver transplants have mainly been performed in
the United States and Japan until recently. In 1991 Europe began trying to institute the
procedure. The first transplant of this type took place in 1989 (Broelsch, C. E., Burdelski, M.,
Organ Donation
Schematic of a transplanted heart with native lung...
Legendary transplantation of a leg by Saints Cosma...Rogiers, X., Gundlach, M., Knoefel, W. T., Langwieler, T., Fischer, L., Latta, A., Hellwege,
H., Schulte, F., Schmiegel, W., Sterneck, M., Greten, H., Kuechler, T., Krupski, G.,
Loeliger, D., Kuehnl, P., Pothmann, W., & Schulte Am Esch, J., 1994). This concept still has
many areas that have not yet been explored in depth and there are sensitive issues involved that
need to be addressed.
Live organ donation came about as a means to solve the problem of the absence of a
donor. Many people die every year while waiting for a donor organ and many others suffer
because of complications linked to finding a suitable donor. Before live organ donation most
available organs were harvested/transplanted from cadavers. This procedure has problems of its
own. Complications include: (a) suitable match, (b) legalities, (c) family not wanting to donate
organs, and (d) time. With live organ donation a suitable match should...