By Kayla Santos

To date, there are approximately 1,600 people on waiting lists for lung transplants; this number has continued to grow over time. Due to a low number of donors, most of those on waiting lists never receive the vital organs they need. A team of scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch has been successful in “growing” a lung in only three days. The procedure involved removing cells …

By Julie Killian
Two doctors have been sent to prison for the distribution and sale of contraband organs to the United States, law enforcement officials confirmed this past Friday. Celso Roberto Scafi and Claudio Rogerio Carneiro Fernandes were urologists who practiced medicine in the second most populous state of Brazil, Minas Gerais. They have been convicted of illegal removal and sale of kidneys, livers, and body tissues of their patients.
Authorities state …

By Kayla Santos
New technology is shown to improve the health and vitality of lungs to be transplanted. The medical device company TransMedics has created a machine (the Organ Care System) that keeps lungs “breathing” while outside of the body, allowing the lungs to remain in an active state. The lungs are kept warm and are saturated with oxygen as well as red blood cells. To date, the routine care for …

By Kayla Santos
Illegal organ trade across various countries generates profits of about 600 million to 1.2 billion US dollars a year according to research conducted by Global Financial Integrity. In recent years, illegal trading has increased significantly, an estimated five per cent of organ recipients in 2005 received organs commercially. Illegal organ trade has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a process in which organs are removed …

by Kaitlyn Schaeffer
In 2012, 4,903 people died while waiting for a kidney transplant. The average wait is three to five years. Today there are more than 77,000 people sitting on the waiting list with their fingers crossed. Those in need of kidney transplants typically require three dialysis sessions per week, which take 4-5 hours each. These treatments are taxing and brutal: dialysis patients are four times as likely than the …

By Julie Killian
A nationwide representative survey claims that almost 60 percent of Bulgarians will not consent to donating their organs. This survey was conducted among 950 people in June 2013 and the data was analyzed on Tuesday by the head of the Executive Agency for Transplantation in Bulgaria, Dr. Mariana Simeonova.
More than 70% stated that they would consent to donating an organ to a family member. Only 25% of the …

By Caroline Song
Within the United States today, about 119,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. In the brief expose, “Organ Transplants May be Issued Due to Residence” by Margot Kim, touches on the possibly restrictive measure that current standards for organ procurement can have on potential recipients. The United States is split into 11 regions that will constitute where those organs will be transplanted. The 11 regions are listed …

By Julie Killian
Surgeons from Henry Ford Hospital and Medanta Hospital in India have carried out 50 successful kidney transplants between January and October 2013, using a new procedure that detects the cooling of the organ by ice during the operation which will help in robot-assisted organ transplantations.
Robotic surgery is a minimally invasive option, compared to more traditional methods of open surgery. According to Dr. Mani Menon, Chair of Henry Ford’s …

By Caroline Song
In the article “Too Risky to Transplant: Patients denied transplants as donor organs are discarded,” the author writes about a growing concern in the transplant committee about the oversight of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS. The goal of CMS is to overview the majority of organ transplants within the US to improve outcomes. CMS has the power to shut down or fine centers that …

By Julie Killian
China has recently executed a successful transplantation of the small intestine from a transgenic pig to a crab-eating macaque at Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command. China initiated the experiment with the interest of discovering alternative ways to deal with the shortage of organs for donation. The hope is that the success of this operation will enable future transplantations from transgenic pigs to humans. The encouragement lies in …