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- I always tell people that if organs grew on trees,
they would all look alike and have the same story.
However, this is not the case.
Every organ has a story and risks associated with it.
A large part of our job is to assess organs
and decide which risks are acceptable.
Any liver we offer to you, we feel is safe to use.
I'm going to explain some of the characteristics of donors,
so that you'll have familiarity with the terms
when you are called, when an organ becomes available.
A donor who is brain dead has been evaluated
by a medical team and found
to meet established criteria for brain death.
The way organs are recovered in this process allows
the heart to remain beating and providing blood flow
to the organs up until the moment of organ removal.
This is in contrast to a heart death or DCD donor.
In DCD donation the decision has been made
to withdraw life support on a donor
and allow the heart to stop.
When the life support is withdrawn.
If the heart stops within a certain timeframe,
then we are able to utilize the organs for donation.
Because of the way this process occurs.
There is a period of time
in which there is no blood flow to the organs.
This increases the stress on the organs
during the transition from donor to recipient,
while the overall outcomes for brain dead
and DCD donor livers are similar.
This added stress during the transition period may result
in a longer healing period and has an increased risk
of scarring of the bile ducts.
Split or partial liver transplant occurs in two situations.
In living liver donation, about half of a donor liver
is removed from the living donor and placed into you.
This healthy piece of liver is large enough
to meet your needs and will continue
to regenerate over time.
A second situation, which a piece of liver
is used is in deceased donation.
In deceased donation if the first person
on the waiting list does not need the entire liver.
For example, if it is a small child,
the remainder of the liver is offered
to the next person on the waiting list.
Regardless, if you receive a whole organ
or a piece of an organ, your entire liver
and gallbladder will be removed.
All of our donors are tested extensively for infections.
All of the donors test negative for hepatitis and HIV.
These tests are very good, but they are not perfect.
And so there is a very low risk of unintended infection.
If there is concern regarding donor infection risk,
this will be discussed with you.
Because of this low risk
of unintended infection with all donors,
all liver transplant recipients are routinely tested
for these viruses in the post-transplant period.
Hepatitis B core antibody positive donors.
This is a situation where the donor's blood work
suggests a prior exposure or infection with hepatitis B,
but they have no sign of active infection.
If you receive this type of liver,
you will need to take an extra pill along with your other
post-transplant medications in order to
prevent reactivation of the virus.
Hepatitis C positive donors.
In recent years, the medications to treat
and cure hepatitis C have been revolutionized
to a point that we are now able to transplant livers
from donors with hepatitis C
into people without hepatitis C.
In this situation, the donor's blood work shows hepatitis C,
but the liver does not show any sign
of damage from the virus.
Following transplant, you will be treated for hepatitis C.
We typically begin this treatment
within the first month after transplant.
The treatment course lasts about 12 to 18 weeks
and has a 96% cure rate
after the single course of treatment.
- I hope you have found this information
useful today on this video.
We hope to see you after the successful liver transplant,
and we thank you for trusting our liver transplant team
and the handle for Transplant Institute with your care.
I wish you the best of luck on your journey.
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