The U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation

Aleathea Brown

   According to the U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation there are currently over 400 pediatric patients on the transplant wait list for thoracic organs. To see the list of organs and age groups on the transplant wait list click this link https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/#. After reading and researching this discussion board topic, it is fascinating and horrifying to know that overdosed deaths have increased exponentially over the past few years.


  The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention states that in the United States, as of 2018, 67,367 deaths were drug overdose related. (CDC, 2020) A journal article  in Transplantation (2020), explains that using organs from potential donors that died of drug overdoses could equal out the positive of transplanting organs from what Health and Human Services call, “increased risk donors” over the risks of just being on the transplant list itself. These “increased risk donors” are those overdoses that are suspected or could potentially transfer the hepatitis B or C virus or HIV diseases. The article goes on to say that treatment developments have been made to make HIV manageable and Hepatitis B and C curable. With these treatments available to those transplant list recipients, it can change the “risk benefits analysis” dramatically. (Glazier, Delmonico & Koh, 2017) To further prove this point, a different article of the same topic this one from the American Journal of Transplantation (2016) says, concerns about transmission of the Hepatitis B and C virus and or HIV to organ recipients are not well supported by data. The New England Organ Bank (NEOB), a type of organ procurement organization, has been on the forefront addressing the trials of exploiting organ procurement with these types of potential donors.


   Gaining an understanding of the risks will help avoid discarding potentially lifesaving organs, and will “allow procurement organizations, transplant centers, and patients to continue to maximize every donation opportunity”. According to the NEOB (2017),  they documented a 254% increase (from 26 [2012] to 92 [2016]) of organ donors who died of a drug overdose. They go on to say, “The devastation of the opioid crisis has an unexpected silver lining in the form of deceased organ donation, proof that with a clear clinical strategy, a lifesaving legacy can emerge from what is otherwise a national tragedy”. (Glazier, Delmonico & Koh, 2017, p. 2653)



   Reading many research articles devoted to this topic and learning about the thoracic organ transplantation in pediatrics, my opinion is yes, I do believe that this could be a strategy to lessen the wait list for these patients. If proper screening is done on the overdosed patient and all other criteria is met, I see that this could definitely be a benefit to organ transplant wait listed recipients. If the overdosed patients were overlooked solely on the criteria that they “might be infected” with diseases that now have cures and medications to treat them, then patients and caregivers need to be educated on the risk of staying on the wait list as more harmful than getting organs from a opioid overdosed patient.

Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020) Drug Overdose Deaths. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.htm.

Glazier A., Delmonico F., & Koh H. (2017) Organ Donation in the Era of the Opioid Crisis, Transplantation. 101(11): 2652-2654 doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000001878

Goldberg, D., Blumberg E., McCauley M., Abt P., & Levine M. (2016). Improving Organ Utilization to Help Overcome the Tragedies of the Opioid Epidemic. American Journal of Transplantation. 16 :2836-2841. Doi: 10.111/ajt.13971

Aleathea Brown
DB 4 week 6
COLLAPSE
According to the U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation there are currently over 400 pediatric patients on the transplant wait list for thoracic organs. To see the list of organs and age groups on the transplant wait list click this link https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/#. After reading and researching this discussion board topic, it is fascinating and horrifying to know that overdosed deaths have increased exponentially over the past few years.

  The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention states that in the United States, as of 2018, 67,367 deaths were drug overdose related. (CDC, 2020) A journal article  in Transplantation (2020), explains that using organs from potential donors that died of drug overdoses could equal out the positive of transplanting organs from what Health and Human Services call, “increased risk donors” over the risks of just being on the transplant list itself. These “increased risk donors” are those overdoses that are suspected or could potentially transfer the hepatitis B or C virus or HIV diseases. The article goes on to say that treatment developments have been made to make HIV manageable and Hepatitis B and C curable. With these treatments available to those transplant list recipients, it can change the “risk benefits analysis” dramatically. (Glazier, Delmonico & Koh, 2017) To further prove this point, a different article of the same topic this one from the American Journal of Transplantation (2016) says, concerns about transmission of the Hepatitis B and C virus and or HIV to organ recipients are not well supported by data. The New England Organ Bank (NEOB), a type of organ procurement organization, has been on the forefront addressing the trials of exploiting organ procurement with these types of potential donors.


   Gaining an understanding of the risks will help avoid discarding potentially lifesaving organs, and will “allow procurement organizations, transplant centers, and patients to continue to maximize every donation opportunity”. According to the NEOB (2017),  they documented a 254% increase (from 26 [2012] to 92 [2016]) of organ donors who died of a drug overdose. They go on to say, “The devastation of the opioid crisis has an unexpected silver lining in the form of deceased organ donation, proof that with a clear clinical strategy, a lifesaving legacy can emerge from what is otherwise a national tragedy”. (Glazier, Delmonico & Koh, 2017, p. 2653)



   Reading many research articles devoted to this topic and learning about the thoracic organ transplantation in pediatrics, my opinion is yes, I do believe that this could be a strategy to lessen the wait list for these patients. If proper screening is done on the overdosed patient and all other criteria is met, I see that this could definitely be a benefit to organ transplant wait listed recipients. If the overdosed patients were overlooked solely on the criteria that they “might be infected” with diseases that now have cures and medications to treat them, then patients and caregivers need to be educated on the risk of staying on the wait list as more harmful than getting organs from a opioid overdosed patient.

Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020) Drug Overdose Deaths. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.htm.

Glazier A., Delmonico F., & Koh H. (2017) Organ Donation in the Era of the Opioid Crisis, Transplantation. 101(11): 2652-2654 doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000001878

Goldberg, D., Blumberg E., McCauley M., Abt P., & Levine M. (2016). Improving Organ Utilization to Help Overcome the Tragedies of the Opioid Epidemic. American Journal of Transplantation. 16 :2836-2841. Doi: 10.111/ajt.13971

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