cadaver liver transplant for foreigners

[rodwak]

MY HUSBAND HAS LIVER CIRRHOSIS WITH A MELD SCORE OF 17,AND IS LOOKING OVERSEAS FOR A TRANSPLANT.DO YOU HAVE ANY UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON CHINA HOSPITALS WHO CAN CARRY OUT THIS PROCEDURE FOR EUROPEANS?

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

i do not know of specific hospitals in china but do know that the availability to foreigners has been curtailed over the last couple of years.  There is a lot of evidence that executed prisoners are a source of the organs there.  You must do research on your own regarding specific centers abroad.  there are many issues with outcome and complications, especially as there is not as much regulatory and government oversight.  many people are now traveling to Colombia; in india they do a lot of transplants but almost all are live-donor in nature.

[gilmane]

Anyone considering "Transplant Tourism" i.e. going to another country to obtain a transplant either faster or unobtainable in the US should consider where they think they will get Transplant follow-up care when they return.  A major dilemma in caring for transplant tourists is the lack of documentation associated with the transplant event and hospitalization. These transplant tourists may be subject to sub-standard surgical techniques, poor organ matching, unhealthy donors, and post transplant infections, prompting  some U.S. health care institutions to refuse treatment of these patients upon return to the U.S. The unclear circumstances under which donors are selected, the lack of appropriate infection prophylaxis, and the potential for organ trafficking or vending in the absence of a regulated system are all areas of concern that call into question the safety of transplant tourism. Those that will  provide post transplant support may or may not consider a second transplant in the event the first fails.
Because these activities are often illegal at least one party involved usually ends up financially burned. Donors are often peasants desperate for money to keep their homes or continue on their lives. These people are lured in with the promise of being paid for said organ, but few ever see any money. On the other side are the transplantees who are sometimes lured to foreign countries where all their cash is taken when there really isn't an organ to be transplanted. UNOS position on this is as follows: "We recognize the desperation that leads some patients and families to consider transplant tourism as a solution to their personal need". "But we cannot condone a practice that fundamentally violates human rights and exploits human vulnerability."

This is not an endeavor to be entered into without a serious consideration of both its ethics and tremendous planning both Prior and Post transplant to ensure proper medical care is provided.