It is an integrated program where able-bodied individuals donate organs or tissues to patients whose diseases render their organs ineffective. It is of great use to people who suffer from chronic, debilitating illnesses due to the failure of a vital organ.
How to go about Organ Donation?
Depending on the type of tissue or organ that is donated, there are different types of medical tests run to find out the perfect donor for the recipient.
Blood typing: In blood donation, the blood group and the Rh factor of the donor and the recipient is necessary to match them. Blood group O is the universal donor, and blood group AB is the universal recipient. Apart from that, one can receive blood from another individual with the same blood group. Rh factors are also crucial.
HLA testing: HLA stands for human leukocyte antigen. These are proteins found on the surface of cells. Half of these antigens are derived from one's mother, while the other half is derived from one's father. So there is a 25% chance of one sibling finding an HLA match in their parents. A minimum of 6 HLA types should match.
Who Qualifies for Organ Donation?
Donation of human tissue is a cost-intensive and critical procedure. With proper expertise, it has the potential to change one's life. However, a misstep can cost a lot. Hence prior medical checks are extremely necessary. HLA matching, cross-matching, immunophenotyping, etc., are necessary to gauge the compatibility of the recipient tissue in the donor's body.
Women who are facing fertility problems, patients who are in terminal treatments, however, wish to conceive, or any other complicated case of infertility can be approached with the help of this donor program. Both parents are screened meticulously for serological parameters like HIV, syphilis, etc., before initiating the donor program.
Why is Donor Program conducted?
Infertility remains one of the most widespread medical issues that bother far too many men and women day in and day out. Under such circumstances, the possibility of receiving the healthy gamete can change the world for the patient concerned. Donor Program enables the donation of sperms, or oocytes, to solve the problem. The world of IVF revolutionized the reproductive health of patients, and it's majorly aided by donor programs. A physician-backed program not only gives you the gift you've been fervently waiting for but also steers you clear of diseases.
Different Types of Donations
The different kinds of donations are enlisted below:
- Living donation: It is a breath of fresh air for transplant candidates. Kidney and liver transplant candidates can be offered living donations. The good news is the donor doesn't need to be biologically related to the individual in need. One out of four living donors is not biologically related to the recipient.
- Deceased donation: For the ones who find the idea of living donation daunting but wish to donate organs still, they can register to the organ donor registry. Upon the death of the donor, healthcare professionals will assess the quality of the organs and decide whether these organs are worthy of transplant. The problem lies in the fact that not all organ donors die in a circumstance where deceased donation is possible. Only after administering all the effort that can be put in to save the patient will discussions of deceased donation begin.
- Tissue donation: A healthy heart valve, skin, bone or bone marrow will come in handy to the patients whose entire life has dictated the pathology of these tissues.
Benefits of the Donor Program:
The Donor Program helps several patients greatly. Various autoimmune and congenital diseases can only be cured by a new organ. This program helps maintain a register and enlists patients according to their priorities so that the organ donation process happens as efficiently as possible. Our doctors in the Brookefield branch are the best kind of healthcare professionals available to you when it comes to donor programs. You can request an appointment at Apollo Fertility, Brookefield, by calling us at 1860 500 4424.
Risk Factors
The Donor Program enables patients in need of certain organs to get connected to donors. While that is a noble act to get involved in, it makes donors vulnerable to various complications like infection, bleeding, blood clots, wound complications, and even death. For the recipient, graft versus host disease poses a substantial risk.
It is a list of candidates where organ recipients are enlisted. Their rank in the list depends on their age, their medical condition, their severity, and various other variables. When a donor organ becomes available, the recipient wait list is cross-referenced, and some potential recipients are shortlisted following the organ allocation policy.
Well, technically, everyone can be a donor, provided the medical condition at the time of death allows the donation. Anyone interested in donating can enrol themselves in the state's donor registry.
That is variable. After entering into the transplant waitlist, the match can be found within a day or can also take years. It depends on factors such as the medical condition of people before you on the list, the geographical region, logistics and how well the HLA matching occurs.
An organ transplant is essentially surgery. Hence, pain, bleeding, blood clot formation, infection and hernia can occur after the organ transplant. However, in some extreme cases, Graft versus Host Disease can occur in some patients. Thus, it is important to carry out pre-transplant tests meticulously.
Treatments
