Organ transplants using 'risky donors' rising

[okarol]

Organ transplants using 'risky donors' rising

More than 1,000 people die each year while waiting for a transplant

More organs from higher risk donors are being used for transplants because of a donor shortage, the BBC has learned.

Organs from patients with a history of cancer or drug abuse, elderly donors and those with serious illnesses have to be considered, say surgeons.

They say they face a dilemma of leaving people to die without a transplant or operating with organs from such donors.

The use of higher risk donors has doubled from 13% in 1998 to 26% last year, BBC Radio File on 4 was told.

An average of three patients a day are dying in the UK because of a lack of a suitable organ for transplant.

'Growing need'

This means surgeons are having to use organs from donors they call "marginal", meaning they come from the following categories: the over-70s, patients with serious illnesses, patients with a history of cancer or drug abuse, or drinkers and heavy smokers.

Professor James Neuberger, medical director of NHS Blood and Transplant, which co-ordinates the supply of organs, told File on 4: "There is no doubt that if we had more donor organs... we could be a lot more selective about those that are used."

He added: "In some cases this is completely safe for the patient but we're certainly seeing organs from higher risk donors being used in order to meet the ever growing need for organ transplantation."
   
FIND OUT MORE
Listen to File on 4, BBC Radio 4 2000 GMT, Tuesday 24 November 2009, repeated 1700, Sunday 29 November 2009.
Listen on iPlayer
Download the podcast

He said in an ideal world surgeons would not use organs that carried added risks but the alternative was more deaths of patients on the transplant waiting list.

Statistics seen by File on 4 show that in 1998 13% of 787 donors were in the marginal category, but by 2008 the percentage had doubled to 26% of 899 donors.

Surgeon Simon Bramhall, who carries out liver transplants at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, said factors such as seatbelt laws and road safety improvements had reduced the number of organs available from young donors.

"I've taken organs from a number of donors in their 80s and transplanted them successfully," he said.

'Fatter donors'

He said "beggars can't be choosers", but added: "The donors are getting older, they're getting fatter and they're having more of what I call co-morbid disease - additional diseases like heart disease, lung disease and even kidney disease."

One patient who was given a kidney, which turned out to be cancerous and had to be removed, told File on 4 she had been so traumatised by the experience she had refused to put her name back on the transplant waiting list.

The woman said: "I felt as though my life had been ruined. I felt destroyed, my family was destroyed... my husband has to care for me now. When I was on dialysis before I was coping, now dialysis is worse."

File on 4 is on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, 24 November, at 2000 GMT, repeated Sunday, 29 November, at 1700. You can also listen via the BBC iPlayer after broadcast or download the podcast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8374269.stm

[Stacy Without An E]

This angers me to no end.

This seems to be the new mantra in this country: lower the standards so more people can participate.

I'm not wasting the last five years I've spent on Dialysis just to go through a painful surgery that will ultimately fail.

Our local hospital started a kidney transplant program and it folded after three months because a woman died from a cancerous transplanted kidney.

Slowly but surely I'm coming to the conclusion that I will be a Dialysis patient for the remainder of my life.

And that's a horrible fate to accept.

[Hanify]

I think this is a good idea.  For example, if I had a car crash tomorrow and was in a position to donate my organs I would.  But I have multiple myeloma which is now a treatable cancer.  Why not offer my bits to someone who is happy to take the risk - maybe an older person who thinks it'll be worth 5 years of a good heart?  No one is forcing any one to take it - it's just another option that some people might take.

[sico]

I would not be keen on a higher risk kidney.
I feel good on "D" at this point in time.
Like the woman who received the cancerous kidney said it's ruined her life.
I guess that's another big advantage to a live kidney transplant.

[cariad]

I agree with you, Hanify.

In the US, we have both an extended-donor criteria option and a high-risk donor option. Since the article is talking about the UK, the rules may be different. I am all for using less-than-perfect organs if the recipient is made as aware of the risks as possible. The story about the woman in the article is very sad, but these things happen despite the best efforts to avoid it. The article is not clear about how screening and allocation is performed, so I felt it left more questions than answers.