Time USA - December 11, 2017

17

HEART LUNG PANCREAS INTESTINES

Medical

urgency

Time on

waitlist Blood

type

Body

size

Proximity

to donor

PATIENT FACTORS

DONOR FACTORS

3,

4,

THE WAITING LIST

2,

1,

1,

2,

147

258

1. Smith


2. Brown


3. Miller


4. Davis


5. Garcia


6. Harris


7. Moore


8. Lopez

(^77) ..HHaarrrriiss
(^88) ..MMoooorree
(^99) ..LLooppeezz
Best
match!

6. Wilson

DONOR HEART

1.1million 4,

of them die

in a hospital

= 1,000 PEOPLE

10,

of those are on

a ventilator and

declared brain-dead

8,

of those are

registered or family-

consenting donors

patients are

awaiting a heart

transplant

While

3,

have a heart

that is

transplated

2.6millionpeople die in the U.S. each year ...

NOTES: SURVIVAL DATA SHOWS MEDIAN GLOBAL FIGURES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL REGISTRY FOR HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANTATION, COURTESY JOSEF STEHLIK.
YEARS 1968–1980 ARE ESTIMATES. YEARS AFTER 2005 ARE PROJECTIONS. YEARLY TRANSPLANTS BASED ON 2016. WAITLIST FIGURES AS OF NOV. 17, 2017.

What’s on

the horizon

Why it’s so

hard to get

a transplant

About 20 people

die each day

waiting for a

heart, lung or

other vital organ.

While half of

Americans are

registered organ

donors, only a

fraction of them

have organs that

can be used.

How the organ

waitlist works

Every 10 minutes

a new person is

added to the list.

Many factors—

not just when

a person is

added—play into

who gets the

next available

organ.

CONDITION Only

functioning organs can

be transplanted, which

eliminates those that

are injured or deprived of

oxygen for too long.

Hearts are

allocated to

recipients primarily

bymedical

urgency, distance

between donor

and recipient, and

variousbiological

traits,such as

blood type.

Artificial hearts

Thousands of people have

relied on these devices

while they wait for a donor

or because they are

ineligible for a live heart.

Animal donors

Pig hearts could prove

to be even better since

scientists have managed

to edit pig DNA to make

them healthier.

Next-gen technology

A device under FDA review

can restart hearts that

have stopped and keep

them beating in transit so

they can travel farther.

AGE Organs deteriorate

with age. Those who are

65 or older account for

more than 70% of deaths

but less than 10% of

transplant donors.

HEALTH Organs should

be free of disease,

cancer and deformities,

and be strong enough

to withstand time on ice

when in transit.

Reasons

organs go

unused