Demand for Organ Transplants on the Rise

A 2004 annual report shows that the number of organ transplants and transplant-survival rates are still increasing while the demand for organs continues to grow. The findings were recently released by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

One approach to the growing waiting list for organs is the “Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative,” developed through the Health Resources and Services Administration of HHS. The goals of the Collaborative are to identify and promote the best practices in organ donation for hospitals and procurement organizations in order to provide donated organs in the best condition for transplantation and to raise the overall donor-consent rate in order to have more organs available.

According to the report, the organ transplant waiting list spiked by 130 percent in the past decade, from 35,751 patients at the end of 1994 to 82,885 at the end of 2003. At the same time, the report found that the number of people awaiting a kidney transplant in the United States exceeded 60,000 for the first time in 2004, making it by far the most commonly-transplanted and most-commonly needed organ.

As the kidney waiting list continues to grow, so has the increased use of expanded-criteria donor kidneys (kidneys with some increased risk of long-term graft failure due to donor's age and/or medical history), the report explained.

Patient and graft survival have also improved, perhaps as a result of new medications introduced over the last 10 years. Patients who undergo kidney and pancreas transplants have a 95-to-97 percent one-year survival rate while survival rates for liver and heart transplants come in at roughly 86 to 87 percent; those for lung and intestine transplants are lower, at 77 and 82 percent  (United Network for Organ Sharing).