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Fact
Sheets
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Over 89,000 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant.
Minorities make up 50% of the transplant waiting
list, broken down as 27% African American, 15% Hispanic, 5%
Asian, and 2% other.
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At any given time, there is an average of 3,000
patients searching the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.
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Nearly 3,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month.
-About 68 people receive an organ transplant every day in the
U.S., while approximately 100 are added to the waiting list.
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Approximately 25% of all organ donors represent minorities; however, minorities make up 50% of those on the transplant waiting list.
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Every day, approximately 18 people die while waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.
-Because of the lack of available donors in this country,
3,974 Kidney, 1,820 Liver, 457 Heart and 457 lung patients
were among those who died in 2004 waiting for life-saving
transplants.
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People who are 65 years of age or older may be acceptable
donors, particularly of corneas, skin, bone and total body donation.
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In 2004 more than 690 people age 65 and older were organ
donors.
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An estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ
donation, but less than half of those individuals become actual organ donors.
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Vital organs may be recovered and transported thousands of miles to a transplant
center, due, in part, to advances in preservation techniques.
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Thousands of patients have received successful transplants from living donors since
1954.
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In 1999, the survival rate for a living donor kidney transplant was
97.9%.
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Parents, children, siblings, and other relatives are eligible to donate organs to family
members, but unrelated donors (for example, spouses or close friends) may also donate their organs if they provide a match for the recipients.
-Living
unrelated donation is a quite new and growing source of donors. In
2004, there were 27,036 organ transplants performed in the
United States. More than 6,900 of these were living
donor transplants. During this year, the number of living donor
transplants exceeded the number of deceased donor transplants
for the first time.
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In 2001, there were 24,076 organ transplants performed in
the United States. More than 6,447 of these were living
donor transplants.
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During 2001, the number of living donor transplants exceeded the number of deceased donor transplants for the first time.
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HISTORY OF ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION |
| 1954 |
First successful kidney transplant*Dr. Joseph E. Murray, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA |
| 1966 |
First successful pancreas/kidney transplant |
| 1967 |
First successful liver transplant* |
| 1968 |
First isolated pancreas transplant |
| 1968 |
First successful heart transplant |
| 1981 |
First successful heart-lung transplant |
| 1983 |
First successful single lung transplant* |
| 1986 |
First successful double lung transplant* |
| 1989 |
First successful living-related liver transplant |
| 1990 |
First successful living-related lung transplant |
| 1998 |
First successful adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant |
| 2001 |
Total number of living organ donors for the year (6,528) exceeds the number of deceased organ donors (6,081) for the first time |
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*Transplant was the first of its kind in the world |
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