Life after death…what organs can be donated…give life to how many?
18-01-2018 Thu 11:53

It is a great deed to save another person’s life. That is why a doctor is seen akin to God. Not just a doctor, even an uneducated commoner can grant life to those who are on the verge of death. This amazing opportunity is possible only through organ donation. This is an attempt to reveal about the facts of organ donation, which has grown in importance.
Why organ donation should be done?

Their efficiency keeps decreasing with increasing age, when compared to other organs. The rest of the body is healthy. But the efficiency of these organs decreases. When they are in a completely deteriorated stage, the person’s life can be extended, by transplanting new organs. Not just with age, but sometimes, the functioning of these organs can be affected due to some diseases or problems. However, in some kinds of surgery, without replacing the organ, its functioning can be improved.
For example, if the functioning of the kidneys is affected, dialysis is done. But this leads to other complications in the body. Those who undergo dialysis, face the risk of cardio vascular diseases (heart diseases). Dialysis reduces the antioxidants in the blood. They are essential for fighting harmful bacteria in the body. That is why, in most cases where the functioning of the organs is affected; the only route that is left is organ replacement. It means the organ is taken from a healthy person and transferred to needy persons. This is called organ transplantation. A person alive or dead could be the donor. Those who receive the organs are called recipients.
Who can donate?

Among those organs that can be donated are kidneys, lungs, heart, eyes, liver, pancreas, cornea, small intestine, skin tissues, bone tissue, heart valves, nerves and eardrums.
Even Cancer patients can donate organs. But it depends on what kind of cancer they suffered or the kind of medical condition. Those who take organs from Cancer patients might be affected by cancer. The recipients are given medicines to suppress their immune system, so that the new organ is not rejected by the body. The main function of the immune system in our bodies is to fight any foreign body or organism, including organs, to protect us from harm.
But if its functioning is supressed, when organs donated by Cancer patients are transplanted, the immune system will fail to fight the cancerous cells. They might run the risk of growth of cancer cells. That is why not much interest is shown in taking organs from cancer patients. If ill-health affects just one organ and it does not affect any other organ, then the unaffected ones are eligible for donation.

Persons, who are alive and healthy, can donate one of their two kidneys. Also, they can donate parts of their pancreas, lungs, liver or small intestine. The remaining organs can be donated only after death. Parents, children, siblings, grandparents or grandchildren can receive organs from live persons. Law does not accept all organ donations. In some cases, organs can be received from friends.
Life to eight persons

Register name in hospital
Almost all hospitals are maintaining a data base of the recipients of organs. Those who are willing to donate their organs should register their names, pledging donation, with hospitals and state-run organisations like Jeevan Dhan. They should inform their family members about their pledge, as the latter need to give their consent for the donation, after the death of the prospective donor. Likewise, if anyone is willing to donate his or her body for medical research, they have to nominate a person beforehand, who will supervise the process smoothly.
Legal procedure
Is organ donation safe?
Doctors ensure that the donor’s organs are free off HIV, Hepatitis, Cancer and infections of any kind, before they can be transplanted. If the donors suffered from any disease before the act of donating organs, some medical tests are conducted. They consider all factors like matching of blood group and the condition of the immune system.
Children included
Even children can donate their organs. Organ transplant surgeries are being conducted on brain dead children, in order to revive other needy children. However, child recipients can take only organs of those younger than themselves.
Brain dead

Patients who are dead due to cardiac arrest (heart stops functioning suddenly), are not eligible for organ donation at all times. The person loses life because his heart has stopped functioning and he can no longer breathe. Blood supply and oxygen are stopped to the other parts of the body. Organs are affected within minutes of cardiac death. If at all they have to be donated, the process should be very quick, conducted within minutes.

The electrical activity and blood supply to the brain stops in a brain dead person. But the other organs can continue to function with the help of a ventilator. That is why the organs of a brain dead person are more useful. As the organs are functioning even after the brain has stopped, there is sufficient time to transplant them. There is enough time to find a matching recipient, collecting the organs and making arrangements to transplant them.
Communicating information
Once a person is brain dead or cardiac dead, the information reaches organ procurement departments immediately. Based on the information, they check out to see if the person has pledged his organs for donation. The process of consulting the family members and seeking their consent for organ donation begins. If they agree, the arrangements are made quickly.
How long?

- A kidney that is transplanted after taking from a donor will function at least for nine years in the recipient’s body.
- Living persons can donate a part of their lungs. But it will not be restored.
- A portion of pancreas or small intestine can be donated safely, while the remaining portion functions normally in the donor.
- A small portion of the liver can be donated without hesitation. The part that has been cut is regenerated. Liver is the only organ in the body, which has new cells formation and cell structure is built, when a portion of it is removed.
- Cornea is a transparent layer on the eyeball. It is a part of primary vision of the eye. Those who have lost their eyesight due to infections or diseases can regain it with cornea transplant.
- Burns patients need skin grafting.
- Donors’ nerves are used in patients undergoing bypass surgeries.
- Blood, blood platelets, root cells can be donated.
- In those who die in hospitals, the chances of donating organs are more. As they are under the supervision of the doctors, these chances increase in case of brain deaths.
- As per the records available in the country, organ donation has occurred of a one-and-a-half-year-old baby and 83-year-old woman. (The youngest and oldest age group).
- In both Telugu states, the number of those who have registered for donating their organs at Jeevan Dhan Trust is 10,557, as on November 26th, 2017.
- Nagarjuna, Farah Khan, Samantha, Rakul Preet Singh, Priyanka Chopra, former DGP Anurag Sharma, Pullella Gopichand and such other prominent persons have come forward to donate their organs.
- Life after death is possible only through organ donation.
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