Organ transplantation is a very controversial medical procedure. Needless to say, for many people this is the only possible way to survive as their severe medical conditions cannot be addressed with any other known medical treatments. Certainly, the governments of the majority of countries are doing their best to regulate this sector of medicine in an effective way, however, it still does not eliminate illegal organisations specialising in organ trade. Needless to say, for especially greedy people selling organs can be a very lucrative business.
No matter in which country you live and what the official regulations for organ transplantation are there, there are still several universal things about this medical procedure which you should know.
Organ donors and organ recipients
As you can imagine, organ transplantation is a very serious procedure which is extremely complex when it comes to the level of surgery. Yet, it is also complex since doctors have to conduct a thorough examination of both the donor and the recipient before deciding to perform such a surgery.
The requirements for organ donors
Obviously, a donor should have a healthy organ which is going to be transplanted. Still, it is not enough. This person oneself has to be healthy. Of course, organs for transplantation are a rather scarce medical material, and it is definitely extremely difficult to find a person whose health is absolutely excellent. That is why it is possible to take organs from people who had some mild health conditions. Yet, there is an entire list of diseases which are making a person impossible to become an organ donor.
Such lists of illnesses might vary from country to country, however, the majority of specialists are absolutely sure of some diseases. There are no doubts in the fact that organs cannot be transplanted to people who suffered from acute infections. Among them are hepatitis B and C, AIDS, syphilis, HIV and acute viral encephalitis. There are also other health conditions in an organ donor not necessarily caused by infections which should be considered before transplantation. For example, some types of malignant brain tumours are on the list.
It is crucial to examine a potential donor especially thoroughly since the majority of them are late people. In many countries, organ transplantation is allowed primarily with the organs of deceased people. In such countries, organs can be taken from alive people if only they are close relatives of the person who needs transplantation.
The requirements for organ recipients
An organ recipient can be any person. These can be adults and children who have developed some serious health issues with time as well as adults and children with genetic health problems. Of course, an organ transplantation may be required for the survivors of various accidents.
It is crucial to understand that organ transplantation will not be made just in any person. This surgery can have a lot of side effects and in some cases there is no sense in performing it.
The life of an organ recipient after transplantation
As it has been mentioned above, organ transplantation might not be suitable for each and every person whose health condition requires changing a particular organ for a new one. The reason for it the fact a transplantation surgery is not the end of the procedure.
A serious issue connected to organ transplantation is the fact the body of a recipient has to get used to a new organ. You are certainly aware of the fact a human body can develop an immune response to anything new which is not an integral part of the body. One of the most common forms of such a response is an allergy. In some people it can go further causing an immune response to a foetus or to the body itself causing autoimmune diseases. That is why, there is nothing strange in the body responding in a negative way to an entire organ which is coming from another body.
This response can be rather severe causing the failure of a new organ. In order to avoid any complications, recipients of organs have to take immune suppressors which are, as the name suggests, special medications for suppressing the immune system of the body.
Unfortunately, such substances should be taken by a person through the entire life. If a person fail to do it, the results can be lethal as a transplanted organ will simply stop working.
At the same time, it is obvious that taking immune suppressing medications for the entire life can be damaging for the health in general. Anything which is weakening an immune system of an organism is making the body more vulnerable to various infections. An immune system is the guard of the body doing its best to not let any external organisms to attack it. Thus, people with transplanted organs have to be particularly vigilant when it comes to any infections.