For a patient who needs a liver, living donation offers an alternative to staying on a list of over 10,000 people waiting for a liver transplant. But what happens when your donor is not a match? To expand the number of living liver donations in the United States, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has launched the first national paired liver donation pilot program in the United States. Read more in Medscape.
TUESDAY, Sept. 27, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Thousands of people die every year while waiting for a liver transplant. Living-donor transplantation holds the potential to save many of these lives, yet remains underused in the United States.
During the procedure, a portion of a donor’s liver is removed and transplanted into a person with liver disease. The donor’s remaining liver returns to its normal size and capacity within a few months. Read the full story in U.S. News & World Report.
With over 105,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, it should be no surprise that organ donation is one of the most important medical procedures of our time. In 2021 alone, more than 11,800 people on the national transplant list were waiting specifically for a liver transplant.
But what does the journey of a liver transplant involve, exactly? And what does this process look like for living liver donors who make the choice to donate a part of their liver?
Read more from Healthline.
It wasn’t until after his liver transplant that Felix Pon’s personality began to shine. His rare liver disease left him bright yellow, itchy, depleted, and hardly able to smile. He’s making up for it today by greeting everyone he meets with a wide grin and a happy hello.
“It was like a veil was lifted after his liver transplant. His good-natured, friendly personality came out,” says his mom, Katie Gilmer Pon. Read the full story from Stanford Medicine.