A successful transplantation (moving of an organ from one body to another) is the most durable option for a patient suffering from end stage organ failure. With first successful kidney transplantation in 1953 the medical world has moved into a new orbit which is now contemplating limb and face transplantation. Organ transplantation has evolved through years with people undergoing transplantation leading a near normal life with safe and affordable medications. Kidney, liver, pancreas, heart, intestine and eye (cornea) are the routine organs that are transplanted. Though not a solid organ, bone marrow (stem cell) transplantation is another domain in the world of transplantation, mainly done for various hematologic conditions.
Availability of donors/organs, affordability of medications, general health and proactive nature of patients are important aspects of successful transplantation. Even in the developed world despite having advanced health care delivery systems, there is significant demand-supply deficit in transplantation. In developing countries like India the proportion of needy patients undergoing transplantation is deplorably low. If one looks at kidney failure, the cost and effort involved in doing dialysis which is the alternative treatment for renal failure is so high that we can do a renal transplantation with the expense involved for two years of dialysis. Promoting organ transplantation is the need of the hour for end stage organ failures in developing countries. In brief, transplantation gives best outcome in the most cost-effective way.
Who can donate organs?
There are two types of donors, living and brain-dead. Living donors are normal healthy volunteers who can donate God- given organs that could be spared. Only kidney, liver and bone marrow could be donated by a living donor. Living donation has been taking place around the globe for last 60 years. All available studies show that with present evaluation methods for donation is safe and causes no morbidity or mortality due to donation. Advantage of living donation is that we can avoid wait time and do a planned surgery without uncertainties of an emergency surgery.
Brain-dead donors are patients who had the misfortune of suffering from non treatable, irreversible brain damage due to accident or disease. Brain dead patients would not have any meaningful function of the brain and would not be able to breathe by self, but they would have a functioning heart which would be pumping blood to all organs. Their "life" would be supported on ventilator. A brain dead patient's heart would stop eventually within 2-3 days of becoming brain-dead and the patient would be pronounced clinically dead. It is this window of 2-3 days that gives an opportunity for the bereaved family to donate vital organs from a humanitarian standpoint. Once brain dead, there are only two reasons to maintain life on life support system like ventilator, first being to consider organ donation and secondly for buying time for the bereaved family to arrange for last rites of the patient. All transplantable organs can be procured for organ transplantation from a brain dead donor.