By Miana Massey
BALTIMORE — More than 100,000 people nationwide are currently waiting for an organ transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
“The need out surpasses the availability. Supply does not meet demand in this case,” Jennifer Verbesey, the transplant director of MedStar Health, said. Read more from CBS Baltimore.
By Dr. Beje Thomas
Finding a living donor can shorten your wait.
Over 30 million people in the US are estimated to have Chronic Kidney Disease and almost 50% of patients with severely reduced kidney function are unaware of it. Options for patients with kidney function less than 20% are either kidney transplantation or dialysis. However, the wait can be several years for a deceased donor kidney transplant with about 100,000 people on the wait list. Many patients do not live long enough to receive a transplant with 13 people on the wait list dying every day. Read the full article from MedStar Health.