The need for living organ donors is great

With nearly 700 adult patients of Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) awaiting a liver or kidney transplant, the opportunity to become a living liver or kidney organ donor could be a phone call away.

Since the Center for Living Organ Donors began at YNHH in 2015, nearly 500 people have responded to the need for living organ donors. Such generous donations are helping chisel away the wait for liver and kidney transplants that, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), currently impacts nearly 99,000 people nationwide.

Of the 186 organs transplanted at YNHH in 2023, 155 were abdominal organ transplants (liver or kidney) and 46 organs were from living donors. YNHH’s Heart and Vascular Center also performs heart transplants. Nationally, 6,900 of the more than 46,000 transplants performed in 2023 involved living organ donors.

“Patients who get living donor kidney or liver transplants have better outcomes. They get the transplant faster with better-quality organs than those from a deceased donor most of the time,” said Sanjay Kulkarni, MD, medical director, Center for Living Organ Donors and professor of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine. “A living donor transplant also helps everyone as it removes one person from the organ waitlist.”

To become a living kidney or liver donor a person must be 18 or older and undergo extensive medical evaluation and testing, along with education and support. Even if a person is not a match for a particular recipient (such as a loved one), the person can donate a kidney to another recipient through a kidney “swap” or “exchange.” With a liver transplant, only a portion of one’s liver is removed for transplant and the liver begins to regenerate almost immediately.

The Center for Living Organ Donors program is the first in the U.S. to offer donors long-term medical and social monitoring related to their donation. To learn more about becoming an organ donor visit ynhh.org/organdonation. To learn more about becoming a living organ donor visit the Center for Living Organ Donors or call YNHTC 866-925-3897 (866-YALE-TXP).