Types of Transplants and the Costs

We now come to the stage in Liver Disease that we need to think about a liver transplant and what that actually involves. Currently the U.S. has both live donors as well as cadaver donors. It is obvious that with a live donor, there is a larger window of time, but in respect to testing etc., there is more. The other good part about a live donor is the fact that it usually is someone close, if not related to the recipient so the likelihood of having more of the criteria matching is greater.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration uses the United Network for Organ Sharing, which is better known as UNOS. UNOS uses a centralized computer system that links all organ procurement groups and transplant centers. This interconnected system is available 24 hours every day. This supports in the donated organs being placed with the right recipients as quickly as possible. After a deceased organ donor is identified several things happen quickly. The national registry is accessed to find potential recipients. The influencing factors that affect the ranking may be tissue match, blood type, length of time on list, immune status, and distance between the donated organ and the individual recipient. Usually, believe it or not the top person on the list often does not get the organ.

The five necessary steps to matching a donor to a recipient are the donation of the organ, UNOS generates the list of potential recipients, Transplant center notified, transplant team considers the donation for the potential recipient, and finally the organ is either accepted or rejected. So the six participants of the transplant include UNOS, the organ donor, transplant candidate, transplant recipient, the procurement team, and the transplant team. There is a lot that goes into the actual process of organ donating. This should never be taken lightly at any appropriate step while we wait for our potential organ donation.

A newer procedure that has been successful is a live donor program. This has been the only type of human organ donation in Germany. There are many different types of organs that can be supplied by living donors such as kidney, liver, lung, intestine, pancreas, and even a domino heart/lung transplant. An individual to qualify as a living donor they must be physically fit, in generally good health, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no cancer, kidney or heart disease. The general age of living donors is usually between 18 and 60. There are the standard tests that are performed to determine the potential donor such as physical and mental health as well compatibility with the patient. There is also a living donor informed consent process form that needs to be gone over and signed.

There are 3 major variations of live donation which are related, non-related, and non-directed as well as other less variations of live donation. The related living donors would be brothers, sisters, parents, children over 18, and other blood relatives. Unrelated donors would include partners, in-laws, close friends, co-workers, neighbors, and other acquaintances. The third donation is non-directed donors that are not related or known by the recipient and done out of altruistic motives.

The other really major factor to consider for a transplant is the monetary costs. These charges involve the pretesting, surgery, organ recovery, hospital stays, surgeon, physicians, radiologists, anesthesiologist, lab testing, anti-rejection, medications, and rehabilitation. There are also many other non-medical costs. The financial cost of a liver only transplant can be up as high as $393,000.00. There are several beneficial groups and organizations that can help with these costs which are the obvious health insurance. There are also the uses of the transplant social workers who may be able to help find sources. There usually are also financial coordinators in the liver transplant centers. There are also federal Medicare and Medicaid. There are also TRICARE and prescription drug assistance programs. There are also Charitable and Advocacy organizations which may assist with finances.

These are the financial issues that go along with an organ transplant. There is a larger cost involved with a live donor than with a cadaver transplant. There are also many groups that can help us through the substantial finances as well as emotional costs of a liver transplant. I hope this helps people to understand the liver transplant costs and types of liver transplants.