Organ Donation and Utilization, 1995–2004: Entering the Collaborative Era

• Published in: American journal of transplantation Vol. 6; no. 5p2; pp. 1101 - 1110
• Main Authors: Marks, W. H., Wagner, D., Pearson, T. C., Orlowski, J. P., Nelson, P. W., McGowan, J. J., Guidinger, M. K., Burdick, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2006
• Subjects: Deceased donors; donation after cardiac death (DCD); donation service area (DSA); Ethnicity; expanded criteria donors; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; living donors; Living Donors - statistics & numerical data; organ donation; Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative; organ procurement; organ procurement organization (OPO) SRTR; Organ Transplantation - history; Organ Transplantation - statistics & numerical data; Organ Transplantation - trends; Tissue and Organ Harvesting - methods; Tissue and Organ Harvesting - statistics & numerical data; Tissue and Organ Procurement - history; Tissue and Organ Procurement - statistics & numerical data; Tissue and Organ Procurement - trends; Tissue Donors; United States; United States
• ISSN: 1600-6135; 1600-6143
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2006.01269.x

Continued progress in organ donation will help enable transplantation to alleviate the increasing incidence of end‐stage organ disease. This article discusses the implementation and effect of the federally initiated Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative; it then reviews organ donation data, living and deceased, from 1995 to 2004. It is the first annual report of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients to include national data following initiation of the collaborative in 2003. Prior to that, annual growth in deceased donation was 2%–4%; in 2004, after initiation of the collaborative, deceased donation increased 11%. Identification and dissemination of best practices for organ donation have emphasized new strategies for improved consent, including revised approaches to minority participation, timing of requests and team design. The number of organs recovered from donation after cardiac death (DCD) grew from 64 in 1995 to 391 in 2004. While efforts are ongoing to develop methodologies for identifying expanded criteria donors (ECD) for organs other than kidney, it is clear DCD and ECD raise questions regarding cost and recovery. The number of living donor organs increased from 3493 in 1995 to 7002 in 2004; data show trends toward more living unrelated donors and those providing non‐directed donations.