Organ Transplantation - Types of Donor

Types of Donor

Organ donors may be living, or brain dead. Brain dead means the donor must have received an injury (either traumatic or pathological) to the part of the brain that controls heartbeat and breathing. Breathing is maintained via artificial sources, which, in turn, maintains heartbeat. Once brain death has been declared the person can be considered for organ donation. Criteria for brain death vary. Because less than 3% of all deaths in the U.S. are the result of brain death, the overwhelming majority of deaths are ineligible for organ donation, resulting in severe shortages. Tissue may be recovered from donors who are cardiac dead. That is, their breathing and heartbeat has ceased. They are referred to as cadaveric donors. In general, tissues may be recovered from donors up to 24 hours past the cessation of heartbeat. In contrast to organs, most tissues (with the exception of corneas) can be preserved and stored for up to five years, meaning they can be "banked." Also, more than 60 grafts may be obtained from a single tissue donor. Because of these three factors—the ability to recover from a non-heart beating donor, the ability to bank tissue, and the number of grafts available from each donor—tissue transplants are much more common than organ transplants. The American Association of Tissue Banks estimates that more than one million tissue transplants take place in the United States each year.