For many people getting a transplant is their only treatment option.  Transplants help thousands of people every year return to a healthier life, made possible by the generous gift from their donor.

For most types of end-stage organ failure, an organ transplant is the best opportunity for a longer, healthier and more vital life.  Tissue transplants give patients back their mobility or stop a cancer from spreading without amputation.  Cornea transplants restore their sight.

Local Transplant Centers

Local Procurement Organizations

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The Transplantation Process

The steps for cornea and tissue transplants are slightly different than the steps for solid organ transplants.  The steps for solid organ transplant are as follows: 

Step 1: Need for Transplant is Determined 

• People requiring an organ transplant suffer from end-stage failure of a vital organ. This means that without a transplant or other significant supportive care, such as dialysis or a heart assist device, death is imminent.  Click here for a list of local transplant centers.

Step 2: Patient is Added to the National Waiting List 

• Once a person is accepted as a transplant candidate, their name and medical profile can be added to the UNOS waiting list.
• The UNOS list includes all potential transplant recipients in the United States.

• The person's name is added to the "pool" of those awaiting transplant.  They are not ranked at this time.
• When a potential donor organ becomes available, each person in the "pool" is computer matched against the donor organ characteristics.
• The computer then generates a list of people ranked in order based on medical and scientific criteria, comparing everyone in the "pool" to that particular donor organ.

• Factors for matching include medical urgency, blood type, length of time on the waiting list and immune status.  Factors such as size match, tissue match, and how ill a potential recipient is may also be taken into consideration.
• In the case of heart, heart-lung, liver, and lung, the potential recipient's distance from the donor hospital is also considered.  
• The top ranked person on the waiting list may not receive the organ because they are not a match.  
• Recipients must also be available, be healthy enough to tolerate major surgery and be willing to undergo transplant immediately.

• When a match is found, the organ is transplanted into the recipient.  
• When an organ is transplanted, the recipient’s immune system sees this organ as ‘foreign’ and may attempt to reject the new organ.  To combat this problem, solid organ transplant recipients take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives.  
• Despite this, most recipients believe this is a small price to pay for procedures that save lives, restore function, and free people from daily hospital visits.  
• For many, transplantation is the best treatment option and the only hope for a normal life.

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History of Transplantation

The United States has the most effective national donation and transplantation network in the world. Over the years, an efficient, equitable system for the sharing of organs has been developed by medical leaders. In 1984, the National Organ Transplant Act mandated the establishment of the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the U.S. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. These organizations are administered by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a private, non-profit entity.

Transplantation Timeline

1954 - First successful kidney transplant performed.
1966 - First simultaneous kidney/pancreas transplant performed.
1967 - First successful liver transplant performed.
1968 - First successful isolated pancreas transplant performed. 
          First successful heart transplant performed.
1981 - First successful heart-lung transplant performed.
1983 - First successful single-lung transplant performed.
          Cyclosporine introduced.*
1984 - National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) passed.**
1986 - First successful double-lung transplant performed.
1986 - UNOS receives the initial federal contract to operate the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
1987 - First successful intestinal transplant performed.
1988 - First split-liver transplant performed.
1989 - First successful living donor liver transplant performed.
1990 - First successful living donor lung transplant performed.
1992 - UNOS prepares first-ever comprehensive report on transplant survival rates for all active U.S. transplant centers.

UNOS helps found Donate Life America, formerly the Coalition on Donation, to build public support for organ donation.
1998 - First successful adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant performed.
1999 - UNOS launches UNetsm, a secure, Internet-based transplant information database system for all organ matching and management of transplant data.
2000 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publishes Final Rule (federal regulation) for the operation of the OPTN.
2001 - For the first time, the total of living organ donors for the year (6,528) exceeds the number of deceased organ donors (6,081).

2006 - UNOS launches DonorNet, a secure, Internet-based system in which organ procurement coordinators send out offers of newly donated organs to transplant hsopitals with compatible candidates.

*Cyclosporine was the first of a number of drugs that effectively treat organ rejection by suppressing the human immune system.
**The National Organ Transplant Act (P.L. 98-507) established the framework for a national system of organ transplantation.

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