Diseases that can be cured only by organ donations

Abstract

Nowadays, the failure of major organs, such as the kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, small bowel and pancreas caused by a significant number of diseases, put thousands of patients each year on the transplants list. But the breakthrough of blood vessels reconnection techniques and improvements in immunosuppressant, methods of organ conservation during transplantation, as well as in the post-operative care had a major contribution in considering organ transplant surgeries the best possible treatment for organ failure at the moment. The aim of this report is to present an overview on organ donation, focusing on the diseases for which the transplantation of an organ may represent the best possible treatment. As the NHS statistics reported, the number of patients who receive a chance for living a better life by organ donation is significantly increasing every year in the UK and the number of donors has been in a continuous rise too in the last years. Moreover, the statistics recorded by NHS showed that out of approximately 4600 transplants performed every year, more than 3000 are only kidney transplantations, making the kidneys the most donated organ. As mentioned before, organ transplantations are the best possible treatment for end-stage organ failure, which occur in severe cases of numerous types of diseases. Kidney transplantations are usually performed for patients with chronic kidney failure, whereas a heart transplant is considered the best possible treatment for heart failure, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy. Lung transplantations are most commonly used as treatment for end-stage related diseases such as cystic fibrosis, pulmonary edema, emphysema and pulmonary hypertension and pancreas transplantations are performed in cases of Type I insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Congenital liver defects and chronic liver infections are the main medical conditions that can be best treated by a liver transplant. Many years of laboratory research has now open the ways of successful small bowel transplantations which can save the lives of patients diagnosed with short bowel syndrome. However, as a result of the research that I have done that led to the finding of an impressive number of diseases that can be cured only by organ donation, my opinion is that organ donation should not be compulsory due to ethical problems or Human Rights (religious beliefs).