Facts About Organ Transplants

Did You Know?

More than 98,000 Americans are currently on the waiting list for a life-saving organ transplant.
Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list – or an average of 245 people being added to the waiting list each month.
On average, 18 people die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
Seven percent of people on the waiting list—over 6,500 —die before they are able to receive a transplant.
One deceased donor can provide organs to save eight people’s lives and can provide tissues that can improve the well-being of more than 50 recipients.
Organ recipients are selected based primarily on medical need, location and compatibility.
To date, 417,205 transplants have occurred in the U.S. since 1988.
Organs that can be donated after death are the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas and small intestines. Tissues include corneas, skin, veins, heart valves, tendons, ligaments and bones.
A healthy person can become a 'living donor' by donating a kidney, or a part of the liver, lung, intestine, blood or bone marrow.
More than 6,000 living donations occur each year. One in four donors is not biologically related to the recipient.
The buying and selling of human organs is not allowed for transplants in America, but it is allowed for research purposes.
In most countries, it is illegal to buy and sell human organs for transplants, but international black markets for organs are growing in response to the increased demand around the world.
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Sources: Donor Alliance, United Network for Organ Sharing, American Kidney Fund, American Association of Kidney Patients, National Kidney Foundation.