Lecture 9 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013) – Organ Transplantation
Review
Robert Katenbaum – death system
Had four components
1. People
2. Place
3. Time
4. Objects
Conditions that resemble death – inorganic and unresponsive; sleep and altered states of
consciousness
Social death – Robert Hertz
Respirator brain
Living cadavers
Margaret Lock
Japan/North America
Gift of life more common in western world
Arises from Christian tradition
In Japan, giving organs to a stranger is a weird concept
Twice dead = a term referring to how organ donors are seen as twice dead (original death then second
death)
1. First death occurs when they are brain dead
2. Second death occurs when their organs are removed
It is also possible for a person to be 3 times dead (stop breathing, then resuscitated, then brain dead)
Death is not isolated to any particular moment
In the western world, a person who is brain dead is simply just dead
In Japan, this is not the case
In Japan, there are more living donors than there are in the west
In Japan, they depend on living organ donors compared to U.S. who rely on cadavers
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Dr. Wada
Conducted the first heart transplant in Japan in 1967
Charged with murder
These charges were later dropped in 1972
The second heart transplant didn’t occur until 1999
Yanigida Case
A family dealing with the death of a man who committed suicide who was brought back to life and
placed on ventilators
Shortly after, he was labeled as brain dead
He died 3 times
1. Hanging self
Then brought back
2. Brain dead
Then biological death
3. Organs taken out
Organ Transplantation
Organ transplantation = the transfer of living tissues or cells from a donor to a recipient, with the
maintaining of the functional integrity of the transplanted tissue in the recipient
Significant events in the history of organ transplantation
1. 1954 ▯first living kidney transplant in Boston
From one identical twin to another
Has evolved to become a common practice in the U.S.
2. 1967 ▯first heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard, Cape Town, South Africa
This heightened public interest
3. 1968 ▯Harvard criteria
This was the agreement on brain death
4. 1968 ▯Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
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Described how organs could be used from an alive person or dead
5. 1976 ▯Cyclosporine
Cyclosporine = a drug that is used to ensure transplant success and to reduce the side effects of
transplants
Enhances the ability to accept organs from a transplant without rejecting it
Its acceptance is shown through the large waiting lists for transplants
The ideal candidate for a transplant is for a patient whose condition is deteriorating despite other
medical interventions and the transplant offers likely recovery for that person
Transplant Restrictions
1. Willingness
People need to be willing to donate
2. Organ condition
3. Biological match
Between donor and recipient to avoid rejection
4. Condition of recipient
Whether the recipient is strong enough for survival with the new organ
5. Expense/delivery
Living Donors
Organs are sometimes given by living people who are willing to give this gift
What is most often donated is a kidney
Donations can be planned, they aren’t emergencies
Most people donate organs to family members or other people that they know
Anonymous donations are becoming common as well
Cadaveric Donors
Primary sources are individuals involved in motor accidents
Also individuals who kill themselves with a gun shot to the head
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Shortage…
Since there are enough donors it has caused competition
Should the organ go to who is in most need?
Should it go to the person living in the local area in which the organ was received?
Selling of Organs
Occurs frequently in Pakistan, India, and China
Those who can afford it, but it
Pakistan has a market for organs
Most people who sold an organ were illiterate and were in financial trouble
There are complications after giving an organ such as time of recovery
Example ▯17 yearold Wahn sold his organs for an iPad and phone
He did this secretly and was paid 2 000 pounds
The surgeon was paid 20 000 pounds
Last year, 5 people were charged in this case including the surgeon
The organ transplant business is booming in China
More than a million people give away their organs in China yet less than 10% receive them known as
transplant tourism
Where they travel overseas and to blackmarkets or organs
Chinese people are less likely to give organs after death
Organ donations by people in jail is a completely different situation
They find it a moral act to give your organs if you are in jail are going to be executed
It’s their way of giving one last thing to the world
Questions
1. Approximately how many children in the United States are waiting for a transplant organ?
a) 1 800
b) 2 500
c) 3 400
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d) 10 200
About 800 are on the waiting list for kidneys and 500 are on the waiting list for livers
2. Approximately how many heart transplants are performed in the United States each year?
a) 500
b) 1 900
c) 2 300
d) 4 800
3. What is the age of the oldest organ donor in the United States?
a) 55
b) 65
c) 72
d) 92
She was a liver donor
Almost anybody can do it at any age
Some Facts – United States
In the U.S., there is another person put on the organ waiting list every 10 minutes
There are 120 000 people on that list
18 people die each da
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