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Over 100,000 Americans are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

On average, a new name is added to the national waiting list every eight minutes. Seventeen people die each day waiting for an organ transplant, according to HRSA.

Transplant centers like UPMC are striving to expand the donor pool to ensure more people get the organ transplants they need.

UPMC efforts to expand the donor pool include:

• Championing living donor organ transplantation.
• Expanding the criteria for usable donor organs.
• Outreach and partnerships to promote organ donation.
• Using advanced techniques like split liver transplants to increase the amount of donor organs.

Learn more about the steps UPMC is taking to promote and expand organ donation to save lives.

How Is UPMC Expanding the Donor Pool?

Advocating for living donation

Living donation has helped to expand the donor pool for kidney and liver transplants.

According to HRSA, over 6,900 living-donor kidney and liver transplants occurred in 2023, representing over 20% of all transplants performed.

UPMC has long endorsed living-donor kidney and liver transplants as a first-line treatment option. We have performed over 2,500 living donor transplants.

UPMC’s Living Donor Champion Program provides resources and support to people who need organ transplants. We help patients and their loved ones find potential living donors.

The benefits of living donation include:

• Less time on the national transplant waiting list for living donor recipients.
• Preserving deceased donor organs for patients who do not have a living donor.

With living donation, patients can receive a kidney or a portion of the liver from a healthy donor. Donors can be family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, or even complete strangers. The liver regenerates after surgery, and donors can live with one kidney.

UPMC can help with testing to determine if potential living donors are a match with their recipient.

If an ideal match isn’t found, we also champion efforts like living donor exchanges. In a living donor exchange, a donor donates their kidney or liver to a different, unknown recipient. In exchange, that donor’s chosen recipient receives a more compatible organ from a different, unknown donor. In some cases, these exchanges expand into donation chains, where one altruistic donor sets off a sequence of transplants, linking multiple recipients and donors.

To be eligible for living donation, interested donors must meet the following criteria:

• They must be between 18 and 75 years old (for kidney transplant) or between 18 and 60 years old (for liver transplant).
• They must be physically and mentally healthy, with no history of cancer, diabetes, HIV, or heart, liver, or kidney disease.
• They must have a body mass index (BMI) of 34 or below (for kidney transplant) and 32 or below (for liver transplant).
• They must have an unselfish desire to help someone in need.

Visit our website for more information about living donation at UPMC or to register to become a living donor.

Expanding the number of usable organs for transplant?

Medical advances have made it possible to expand the criteria for usable donor organs. UPMC’s use of advanced technology and our expertise in transplantation allow us to use organs previously considered too high-risk.

In the early 2020s, UPMC began using extracorporeal perfusion technology. This enables our transplant teams to perform donor after circulatory death (DCD) transplants.

In DCD transplants, donor organs are procured and preserved after the donor’s heart stops beating and the donor stops breathing, instead of after brain death. This allows for more potentially usable donor organs.

UPMC also uses ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) technology to preserve donor lungs that previously may have been unsuitable for transplant.

Finally, UPMC’s long history of transplant expertise — we have performed over 20,000 solid organ transplants — enables us to perform transplant surgeries with organs that previously would have been deemed too high-risk. That includes using organs from extended criteria donors, such as older donors or donors with mild medical conditions. We also have a long history of innovation in antirejection medicine, helping ensure long-term transplant success.

Making organ donation partnerships

UPMC partners with local, statewide, and national organizations to promote organ donations and expand the donor pool.

As part of UPMC’s commitment to living donation, we have partnered with the American Liver Foundation, National Kidney Foundation, and Donate Life America to promote living donation. We provide education and resources to help people learn about the benefits of living donation. These partnerships help us promote living donor transplants for adults and children.

We have also partnered with national organizations and organ procurement organizations (OPOs) to raise awareness about organ donations and increase donor registration.

Also, through partnerships like UPMC-ISMETT, we have expanded organ transplant access internationally. UPMC-ISMETT, in Palermo, Italy, has performed over 3,000 transplant surgeries.

Using advanced techniques to increase donor organs

UPMC also uses advanced techniques like split liver transplants to expand the donor pool.

In a split liver transplant, a single donor liver can be divided into two usable grafts — helping two patients instead of one. Because of the liver’s ability to regenerate, the split liver grafts will grow to a normal size after transplant.

UPMC performs split liver transplants for adult and pediatric patients.

In a domino liver transplant, a recipient with a condition that doesn’t affect liver function but could cause long-term health problems receives a new donor liver. That person’s original liver, which still has full function, is transplanted into a second recipient who would not be affected by the original recipient’s condition.

In addition, technology helps provide a bridge to transplants for critically ill patients. Ventricular assist devices (VADs) help a patient’s heart stay viable as they wait for a donor heart to become available. Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) keeps patients with severe heart and lung conditions stable as they wait for transplant.

Who Can Register as an Organ Donor?

Anyone over 18 can sign up to be an organ donor. People under 18 typically will need a parent or guardian’s permission to register or to have their organs used.

Also, you can still register as an organ donor if you have a medical condition. Doctors will determine if your organs are healthy enough for donation at the time of your death.

You can sign up to become an organ donor at the state level online or by visiting your local state motor vehicle office.

Organ donations save lives. People who register as organ, eye, and tissue donors have the potential to save eight lives and affect 75 more.

For more information about registering as an organ donor, visit the Donate Life America website.