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Yes, We Can Donate Organs Even If We Have Hep C.

This topic has come up from time to time, yet still the confusion exists.

As an important topic that could potentially save lives, I hought maybe the correct answer deserved it's own thread title as sometimes the correct answer gets buried within a thread that not everyone takes the time to read.

So again, anyone with Hepatitis C -- acute or chronic -- can be an organ donor. What we cannot do is to donate blood. An entirely different topic.

Here's an article that Mike Simon just posted in a current thread on same topic:

"...Some people think that having hepatitis means that they can't be an organ donor. This is a myth. People can still be an organ donor and have acute or even chronic hepatitis.

Organ donation is a tremendous act of kindness, and there is a great need for organ donors of all ages. In fact, there is no age limit. Even if your liver isn't in good enough shape for donation, perhaps other organs and tissues could be used by someone else.

Here are examples of organs, in addition to the liver, that can be used: heart, intestines, kidneys, lungs and pancreas. In addition, certain tissues can also be used: bones, corneas, sclerae, tendons and certain veins.

There are, however, diseases that will prevent organ donation. Examples of two relatively common diseases include being HIV positive and having actively spreading cancer."


From: http://hepatitis.about.com/od/questions/f/OrganDonor.htm

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27 Responses
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577132 tn?1314266526
Great thread, thanks to all.  Back to donor status for me, yay!!!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Yes they inform the patients. They might say to a HCV negative patient something like "Hey, we have this HCV positive liver but it's in a lot better shape than yours is and if you don't get a liver immediately you're going to die - what do you say, want it or not?"

You wrote:
"and they said yes, don't be a donor....
even the experts never agree....sheesh.

If a doctor tells you that your organs could never be used then I suggest that he/she isn't an expert. Even we mere patients know better than that!
Mike, the Expert
Helpful - 0
233616 tn?1312787196
well I'll sure have to show this to my clinic....my first question was should I change my donor status, or remove it...and they said yes, don't be a donor....
even the experts never agree....sheesh.

So how does that work?  Do transplant recipient get a choice?
I wouldn't want to be HCV free and be given ANY graft to get this crud back!!

How do they inform patients or give them a choice. I sure wouldn't want to spread this disease...people that don't have it don't know what they are letting themselves in for.

mb
Helpful - 0
559277 tn?1330618739
Advance Directives for each state:

http://www.caringinfo.org/stateaddownload

All in one place, easy to download and free.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Take a look at this info on HCV liver grafts:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/461071

Discussion - Our study is the first matched analysis of recipients of HCV-positive and -negative grafts, and includes the largest single institution experience with HCV-positive grafts. Both matched and unmatched analyses confirmed previous observations that the use of HCV-positive grafts does not appear to adversely affect patient and graft survival. Similar to other observations, there was a trend to greater patient survival in recipients of HCV-positive grafts than HCV-negative grafts 1 year post-OLT.[7,10] However, this survival advantage was gone by 5 years. Overall, recipients of a HCV-positive graft had similar patient and graft survival to patients who did not receive a HCV-positive graft. The 5-year patient survival was 64% for recipients of HCV-infected grafts compared with 60% of recipients of HCV-negative grafts. Similarly, the 5-year graft survival was 58% for recipients of HCV-positive grafts compared with 55% in patients who did not receive a HCV-negative graft.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
So glad I didn't miss this thread. I will definitely change my directives. And I feel better knowing this.
Helpful - 0
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