Organ transplantation data analysis available - Brief Article

AORN Journal,  July, 2003  

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The number of living donor liver transplantations has doubled since 1999, according to a March 14, 2003, news release from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). This information can be found in a comprehensive analysis of organ transplantation data now available to the public. The 2002 Annual Report of the US Organ Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients identifies trends in organ donation and transplantation from 1992 to 2001.

Among the trends discovered are that

* deceased donors are shifting from young adults who sustained fatal head injuries to older adults who died from cerebrovascular events (eg, strokes),

* the percentage of transplant recipients older than 50 years of age has grown steadily,

* living donors account for nearly 52% of kidney donors,

* the number of biologically unrelated living donors increased tenfold during the past decade, and

* the national waiting list for most transplantable organs continues to grow.

This 12th annual report has several new features, including

* chapters about practice areas (eg, organ donation, immunosuppression, pediatric transplantation) and specific organs (eg, kidney and pancreas, liver and intestine, heart and lung),

* a chapter about expanded criteria for kidney transplantation, and

* a chapter on immunosuppression practices and trends.

The report can be accessed via the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network web site at http://www.optn.org or the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients web site at http://www.us transplant.org. Copies may be ordered from UNOS by calling (804) 782-4841.

Report Identifies Organ Donation and Transplantation Trends (news release, Richmond, Va: United Network for Organ Sharing, March 14, 2003) http://www.unos.org /news/newsDetail.asp?id=256 (accessed 3 April 2003).

COPYRIGHT 2003 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group