In the United States alone, over 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants to replace organs that have failed because of injury or illness. Each day over 100 patients are added to the transplant list and about 18 patients die awaiting an organ transplant. Over 28,000 receive a life-saving organ transplant every year. Organs that can be transplanted include the heart, intestine, kidney, liver, lungs, and pancreas. Bone marrow and tissues, such as the cornea, tendons, and heart valves, can also be transplanted. Some organs can be donated while the donor is still living, such as the kidney, or section of an organ, such as the liver, pancreas, lung, or intestine.

Although organ transplant gives patients a chance at life and most recipients return to a full and normal lifestyle, staying healthy after a transplant requires vigilance and care. In the immediate aftermath of a transplant organ recipients must battle organ rejection and infection. Tests, such as blood tests, ultrasounds, x-rays, and biopsies, will allow doctors to discover and fight the signs of rejection or infection. Recipients will also take anti-rejection medication, or immunosuppressants, to battle organ rejection, usually for the rest of their lives. Taking immunosuppressants can increase the risk of certain infections, although there are steps patients can take to decrease their chances of infection. Support for organ transplant recipients will help them meet the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of living with a donated organ.

Transplant Centers

• Mayo Clinic Transplant Program: One of the largest transplant programs in the country, the Mayo Clinic performs over 1,100 transplants a year.
• University of Michigan Transplant Center: The University of Michigan Transplant Program performs over 400 transplants each year, including heart, kidney, islet, liver, lung, and pancreas transplants.
• NYU Langone Medical Center: The Transplant Surgery Division has performed over 1,300 liver and kidney transplants and provides comprehensive care to transplant candidates and patients.
• University of Maryland Transplant Center: The University of Maryland Transplant Center performs over 250 heart-lung transplants each year, including thousands of laparoscopic kidney donations.
• Emory Transplant Center: The Emory Transplant Center performs over 300 hand, heart, islet, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplants each year, as well as over 60 pediatric transplants.
• University of Utah Transplant Center: The University of Utah Transplant Centers perform hundreds of heart, kidney, liver, lung, and pancreas transplants, as well as cardiac mechanical supports.
• University of Kentucky Transplant Center: The University of Kentucky Transplant Center performs over 130 transplants every year, including heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, and liver transplants.
• University of Virginia Transplant Center: The University of Virginia’s transplant program performs over 200 adult and pediatric liver, kidney, pancreas, islet cell, and heart-lung transplants.
• Massachusetts General Hospital: Massachusetts General Hospital Transplant Center performs heart, pancreas, islet cell, liver, lung, and kidney transplants and offers an infectious disease program as part of its ongoing support and treatment of transplant recipients.
• Cedars-Sinai Transplant Center: Cedars-Sinai Transplant Center performs adult and pediatric heart, lung, liver, kidney, and kidney-pancreas transplants.

Support Groups and Message Boards

• Transplant Living: Information for transplant recipients for before, during, and after the transplant. Also includes community resources and support groups.
• Organ Transplant Support: A non-profit organization that provides counseling and support for transplant candidates, recipients, and their families.
• Blood and Marrow Transplant Information Network: Patient and family support for blood and bone marrow donors and recipients.
• Organ Transplant Community: Discussion, tips, resources, and support for organ transplant recipients.
• Bone Marrow Resources: Information about how to choose a transplant center and where to go for support before and during the transplant.
• Transplantation Support: Information, patient stories, and support resources for donors and recipients.
• Transplant Community: An organization designed to improve the quality of life of transplant recipients and candidates; includes bulletin boards.
• Organ Transplant Recipient Bulletin Board: Online discussion boards for organ transplant recipients. Forums include a youth forum, medications, insurance issues, and forums for recipients of specific organ transplants.
• Kidney Donor and Recipient Message Boards: Online message boards that cover topics such as transplant athletics, transplant recipients, and waiting for a transplant.
• Living Donors: Information for people considering donating a kidney, bone marrow, and portions of lung, liver, skin, intestine, or pancreas. Site includes online message and discussion boards.
• Organ Donors: This site provides facts for organ and tissue donation, including information on living donation.
• Questions about Organ Donation: Answers to frequently asked questions about organ donation, such as which organs can be donated, who can be a donor, what are the physical and financial costs of donation, and what the process of donation is like.

Types of Transplants

• Organ Transplant Types: This site gives profiles for organs that can be transplanted. Each profile lists the organ and its functions, diseases and disorders of the organ, and transplant statistics.
• Donation and Transplantation: An overview of the history of organ transplantation, how donated organs are procured and allocated, patient information, and information on living donation. Site also includes patient support information, such as fact sheets and brochures.
• Types of Transplants: Patient information for heart, kidney, kidney/pancreas, liver, pancreas, and blood and bone marrow transplants.
• Bone Marrow Transplant Types: Information on autologous and allergenic transplants of blood and bone marrow and what diseases can be treated with these transplants.
• Transplant Types: Background and patient information regarding bone marrow, islet cell, corneal, hand, heart, intestinal, auto islet, kidney, liver, lung, heart/lung, and pancreas transplants. Also includes information on pediatric transplants.
• Kidney Transplants: Overview of main types of kidney transplants, such as cadaver and living donor transplants. Includes information on minimally invasive surgery, patient evaluation for transplantation, and patient stories.
• Bone Marrow Transplant: Explanation of the function of bone marrow, diseases that benefit from bone marrow transplantation, and different types of bone marrow transplants.
• Heart Transplants: This site includes a history of heart transplantation and information about coronary assist devices and mechanical hearts.
• Lung Transplant: This site gives an overview of lung transplants, including what they are, who might need one, and what patients should expect before, during, and after transplantation.
• Intestinal Transplant: This site gives an overview of the functions of the intestine, its parts, transplant procedures, diagnoses that would lead to transplant, and a list of transplant centers.
• Pancreas Transplantation: This site gives a history of pancreas transplantation, reasons why a transplant might become necessary, how candidates are evaluated, and how the transplant is performed and cared for post-operatively.
• Corneal Transplant: This site explains what the cornea is, its function, diseases or disorders of the cornea that would lead to transplant, what a cornea transplant is, and its success rate and prevalence.

Organ transplant recipients await the generosity of the public. People of all ages, races, and ethnicities can be organ or tissue donors. Reasons patients may need organ transplants include: lung disease, cirrhosis of the liver, heart disease, kidney failure, diabetes, severe Crohn’s disease, and other diseases or injuries. Organ donors and recipients come from all walks of life and the selfless act of organ or tissue donation can profoundly improve someone’s life.