Research has shown that an improved new generation of antiviral drugs should help to expand the number of organs available for donation, and reduce the rejection rate by the human body post-surgery.
In U.S., over 10,000 people die every year either awaiting transplantation, or as a result of deteriorating health exacerbated by the shortage of organs, according to a review by Randolph Beard and colleagues.
Organ donation is well-established with many people willing to donate various body parts. Brains are a different matter, with many people unaware they can donate their brain. Yet researchers need brains; we look at why this is important.
The idea of developing artificial lungs for organ donation remains a goal for the medical establishment, given that a high proportion of people die due to the scarcity of available lungs. A new technique brings this closer.
New York -
During the 1980s, a ban was put in place in the U.S., barring HIV positive people from donating or receiving organs. A recent study has concluded that organs from those with HIV can be safely donated.
A simple test that can reveal whether a kidney transplant recipient is at imminent risk of organ rejection has been developed. The test checks urine levels of an immune protein.
Leominster -
When a Massachusetts woman heard her ex-husband's mother needed a kidney, she volunteered to donate hers. The woman and her ex had been divorced for almost a decade.
Tucson -
Greg Welsh, 47, finally received a donor heart transplant after 120 days of life with the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. Having lost his wife in a car accident, Welsh has seen both sides of organ donation.
Toronto -
It's the hardest time for two families both waiting for doctors to walk down those long hospital corridors. For one the news will be heartbreaking and for the other the words will fill their hearts with hope.
Toronto -
Last year nearly 700 Canadians were saved because of a record number of organ donors. There were 218 deceased organ donors and 1,299 tissue donors in 2009, a trend that is continuing in 2010.
A 15-year-old boy from Oxnard, California ,is brain dead but on life support after a school shooting on Tuesday. Lawrence King was shot in the head at E.O. Green Junior High by another teenage boy.
Currently there is a debate to overhaul the current donor system. Due to a serious shortage of organs for transplants will mean that surgeons will have no choice but to use parts from drug addicts.
