Organ transplants are surgical procedures that involve the removal of an ailing, damaged or failing organ of a patient who becomes the recipient when the removed organ is replaced by a comparable organ of a donor who may be alive or deceased (cadaveric). After years of inordinate failed attempts on both humans and animals, transplantation of kidneys has finally become a feasible reality for human beings in the yearly years of the 1950s.
With the attitude of optimism and the veracity which stemmed in the knowledge of having saved countless lives, further medical research lead to advancements in procedures and technology. Today, organ transplants of just about any organ of the human body have a high success rate, they are common routines which are relatively safe and recovery has become ever so much easier. Organ transplants save thousands of lives every year — lives that would have been extinguished otherwise.
The Challenges of Organ Transplants
With the methodology having been perfected, organ transplants are still complex operations that face a number of challenges.
Rejection
The biggest challenge that modern medicine faces when attempting organ transplants is the body’s rejection of the newly introduced organ. Although the transplant organ is thoroughly matched, the recipient’s immune system does what it is supposed to do; it recognizes an alien organism and it attacks.
To avoid or minimize the risk of rejection, the recipient of a transplanted organ must live with immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of his or her live. Such drugs weaken the immune system and the patient becomes highly susceptive to infections and disease. Science is looking at alternate options but until they are fully refined, immunosuppressive drugs are the only viable options for organ transplant patients.
The dangers of rejection from an organ transplant have been classified into three major groups:
- Hyperacute rejection occurs when the there is an incompatibility between the blood type of the donor and the recipient. The reaction is immediate and the recipient will die on the operating table. Because transplant organs are carefully matched, this happens very rarely.
- Acute rejection is the immune system’s normal response to foreign matter and it occurs several days after the organ transplant procedure.
- Chronic rejection is a slow and prolonged process of rejection with symptoms barely noticeable.
Preserving the Transplant Organ
The second major challenge is keeping the transplant organ in a healthy and functioning state while it is in the process of being transferred from the donor’s body to the recipient’s. This involves time sensitivity and extreme precision to be coordinated between two surgical teams; the one working on the donor and the other on the recipient.
The organ in question is surgically removed from the donor’s body and injected with a solution that will help preserve it. All blood vessels are clamped and severed and the organ then is placed in a bag filled with preservative chemicals. This bag is then placed into a cooler filled with ice and rushed to the site where the recipient has already been prepared for the surgery that will begin as soon as the organ arrives safely.
Finding Transplant Organs
Another serious challenge in the science of organ transplants is in finding the organs. With the demand for organ transplants continually growing, there is a dire shortage of donated organs. In short, the demand far exceeds the supply.
The process of qualifying for an organ transplant is dependent on the patient’s age and on the patient’s overall physical and mental condition. Patients who are qualified in the United States must be registered with the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) which is part of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a nonprofit organization contracted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Because the pool of available organs is so low, today’s reality points to the fact that roughly fifteen thousand patients die each year in the United State alone while waiting for a well matching organ to become available.
Bioethics
Finally, there is the challenge of answering the ongoing bioethical questions which include the quest for the definition of death, the issue of unnaturally prolonging life, the decisive factors involved in providing transplant organs to some while not to others and the idea of purchasing organs as well as the high financial burden of the organ transplant procedures.
The Aftermath of Organ Transplants
Recipients of transplant organs will heal from the surgery as from any other but their new lease on life will have to incorporate continued drug therapy and annual or biannual medical checkups. Other than that and barring any complications, they are as good as new.
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