Waiting for Transplant
The Waiting List
If liver transplantation is the best treatment option for you and you agree to it, there will be a period of waiting for a compatible donor liver to become available. This may be a difficult time for you and your family. We will be available to assist you in coping, if necessary, during this time.
Your Status on the List
Your name will be added to a list of other patients waiting for a liver transplant. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the national agency that regulates organ transplantation. LifeLink of Georgia, Inc., the organ recovery agency for this area, will coordinate efforts to locate a donor for you. Your priority for transplant is based on a UNOS MELD score that takes your bilirubin, prothrombin time (INR), and creatinine to stage your priority. It is critical that you have labs done when requested and ensure that they are sent to us or your score may be dropped to lower levels by UNOS. Generally, as your MELD score increases, you “move up on the list”. However, if your score gets too high, you may be too sick for a transplant.
Finding A Donor
There is absolutely no way to predict when a donor will become available. The wait, depending on your UNOS priority score, could be a few hours to several months or even years. Organ donors are people who have suffered brain death, usually as a result of an automobile or motorcycle accident. The next of kin of the brain-dead patient must give consent for the patient to be an organ donor. After transplantation, only minimal information about your donor such as the approximate donor’s age and sex can be given to you to protect their privacy. Many families often ask questions about the age of the donor and how the donor died. The transplant team cannot give out any information to you about the donor nor do we give any information about you or your family to the donor family. The donor family has been promised that this information will be kept confidential.
We do encourage you to write a letter to the donor families at some point following your surgery. Please do not reveal your identity. If you choose to write a letter, a transplant coordinator will send it to LifeLink of Georgia who will then forward it to the donor family.
When a compatible donor is found, you will be notified by a member of the liver transplant team. At that time, you will be given instructions about coming to the hospital for your transplant. We advise you not to bring any valuables with you, such as jewelry, money, expensive clothing or small appliances.
Every effort will be made to find a donor quickly. The wait for a donor depends on your meld score, blood type, body size and critical nature of your disease. To find a donor match for you, we look at three things:
- You and the donor must have compatible blood types.
- You and the donor must be close to the same weight.
- You must not have antibodies that are incompatible with the donor.
The option of receiving a portion of a liver from a friend or relative is possible at Emory University Hospital . If you are interested, please call 404-727-3599.
