Organ donation is a very personal issue, one that can make the difference between life and death for other patients. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital encourages all patients to discuss this issue with their families. For further information on organ donation, please call the New York Organ Donor Network.

Most organ transplants are donated by the families of people who have been declared "brain dead." Certain liver and kidney transplant patients may be able to receive an organ from a living donor, but cadaveric organs, as the organs from the recently deceased are known, provide the majority of transplanted organs and are the only option for those in need of a new heart or lung.

Organs available for transplantation are registered with the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, a confidential database administered by the New York State Department of Health. This database provides information to the New York Organ Donor Network, the regional organ procurement organization (OPO) for the NewYork-Presbyterian Transplant Institute.

The OPO is linked to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) – a not-for-profit organization that operates the national organ transplant waiting list and organ matching system under contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. UNOS assures equal access for every patient needing an organ for transplantation through a centralized computer network that links all transplant centers and regional OPOs. This computer system is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with organ placement specialists available round the clock.

When an organ becomes available, the OPO enters the necessary donor information into the UNOS computer. The computer then searches the entire country for a "perfect match." If no such match is found, the computer searches the local area of the donor's hospital and generates a list of potential recipients ranked by specific factors such as blood and tissue type (i.e., antigen match), antibody levels and length of time on the waiting list. Each candidate receives a total score based on the points assigned to each factor. The antigen match, however, is considered the most important and is assigned the most points. If a match is not made locally, it is offered regionally and then nationally.

In order to register as an organ donor, or for more information about organ donation, please contact the New York Organ Donor Network at 1-800-443-8469.