A living donor transplant is the transplantation of an organ -- or part of an organ -- from a living donor to a transplant recipient.

While all transplants can use organs removed from cadaver donors, only five types of transplants can be performed using living donors, and only two -- kidney and liver -- are increasingly widely performed.

• Kidney transplant. The most common form of living donor transplant, more than one-third of all kidney transplant recipients now receive one of the two kidneys from a living donor.
• Liver transplant. A growing but still not very common form of living donor transplant, where a segment of a donor's liver is removed and transplanted to the recipient.
• Lung transplant. A rare form of living donor transplant, requiring two donors, who each give one lobe of their lung to form a new lung for the recipient.
• Pancreas transpant. A rare form of living donor transplant, where part of a donor's pancreas is removed and transplanted to the recipient.
• Intestine transpant. A form of living donor transplant still regarded as experimental, where part of a donor's intestine is removed and transplanted to the recipient.

LIVING DONOR KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS

More than 30,000 living donor kidney transplants were performed over the past 10 years, and the most recent statistics show a success rate -- the percentage of patients whose transplanted kidney was functioning 5 years after surgery -- of 78.4 percent compared to 64.7 percent for patients who received cadaveric kidneys.

From the standpoint of the patient in need of a transplant, there is almost universal agreement among transplant professionals that a living donor kidney transplant is the preferred course.

The National Kidney Foundation, largest organization representing patients with kidney disease, says "living kidney transplantation has a number of advantages compared with kidney transplantation from a person who has died."

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LIVING DONOR LIVER TRANSPLANTS. While living donor liver transplants have been performed on children since 1989, the first living donor liver transplant for an adult only took place in 1995.

A living donor liver transplant involves taking part or all of one of the two lobes of the liver from the donor, and transplanting it into the recipient.

For a child, a portion of the donor's left lobe is taken for the transplant. For an adult, all of the donor's left lobe -- or more commonly, the larger right lobe -- is removed and transplanted.

Because of the regenerative powers of the liver, the single liver lobe generally grows back to about the original size of the liver -- in both donor and recipient -- within two months of surgery.

From the standpoint of a patient in need of a transplant, there is less agreement among doctors as to whether a living donor liver transplant -- which last year constituted only 6 percent of all liver transplants -- is preferable to waiting for a cadaver liver.

Because only a handful of adult living donor liver transplants were being done until recently, data comparing the five-year success rates of adult living donor liver transplant patients with those receiving cadaveric transplants is not yet available.

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LIVING DONOR LUNG TRANSPLANTS. Since the first living-donor lung transplant was performed in 1990, only about 150 have been performed.

For the most part, recipients of living donor lung transplants have been children and small adults, who have a difficult time getting a cadaveric lung of the right size. A majority of the recipients have been cystic fibrosis patients.

The major lung patient organization, Second Wind, says the biggest problem with living donor lung transplants is that "up to two healthy people have to undergo major surgery with some loss in lung function incurred in order to benefit one very unhealthy recipient."

From the standpoint of a patient in need of a transplant, doctors generally do not view living-donor lung transplants as the preferred course, but as a potential option for a patient who cannot survive until a cadaveric lung becomes available.

LIVING DONOR PANCREAS TRANSPLANTS. While the first living donor pancreas transplant was performed at the University of Minnesota in 1978, this procedure has been performed at few other centers and is still largely regarded as experimental.

From the standpoint of a patient in need of a pancreas transplant, the waiting time for a cadaver pancreas is generally much shorter than the wait for a cadaver kidney or liver. And with a cadaver transplant, the recipient would have an entire pancreas and not just part of this organ.

For patients desiring more information on a living donor pancreas transplant, the best source is the University of Minnesota Transplant Center, 516 Delaware Street S.E., Box 482, Room 2-200, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

LIVING DONOR INTESTINE TRANSPLANTS. Only a handful of living donor intestinal transplants have been performed in the United States -- mostly from parents to children. While doctors report that the results have been encouraging, this procedure still is regarded as experimental.

As with all information provided in this site, it is offered for educational purposes only, and it is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your own physician or healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.