Specialists: Stop Going to China for Organ Transplants

Introduction
Organ transplantation is an effective therapy for end-stage organ failure and is widely practised around the world. According to WHO, kidney transplants are carried out in 91 countries. Around 66 000 kidney transplants, 21 000 liver transplants and 6000 heart transplants were performed globally in 2005. The access of patients to organ transplantation overseas, however, varies according to their national situations, and is partly determined by the cost of health care, the level of technical capacity and, most importantly, the availability of organs.

Methods
This paper originated from a literature review commissioned by the Clinical Procedure Unit of WHO’s Department of Essential Health Technologies and was undertaken during July and August 2006. Its purpose was to gather information on the international organ trade and transplant tourism, and to synthesize this into a tentative global picture using multiple research strategies.

Results
In total, 309 documents – 243 media materials, 51 journal articles and 15 other documents – were judged to be the most relevant. As anticipated, quantitative data was scarce. However, several documents, including academic articles, conference papers and reports by health ministries and national transplant registries, were obtained for several countries. Media reports were found to be useful in gaining information on the prevalence and forms of the international organ trade and as a source of data not accessible in academic journals. The major findings from these will be summarized below.

Organ Transplant Treatment Abroad
Organ transplants are fairly common these days, but it wasn't so long ago (1960s) that most transplant patients had very poor chances of survival. Today however,Best Kidney Transplant Options Abroad thanks to medical discoveries, drugs and experience, organ transplant patients have a much higher survival rate,

Common Types of Organ Transplants

• Allograft – organ transplanted from a non-relative of the same species
• Autograft – tissue taken from the individual to be used elsewhere in the body
• Isograft – organ or tissues taken from an identical twin
• Split Transplants – a specific organ or tissue donation from a deceased donor is transplanted into two recipients
• Xenograft (aka Xenotransplantation) – transplant of organ or tissue from one species into another (i.e. porcine heart valves)

Organ transplant in state gets pat from UK journal
The organ transplant system in Tamil Nadu has received a pat on the back from overseas. An article in the April issue of the British Medical Journal has credited the state with changing the face of an oft suspected trade by encouraging donations from dead donors, with government support, rules and a transparent organ-sharing programme.