Kidney Transplant Need Exceeds 60,000 for the First Time

New York, NY -- October 29, 2004 -- For the first time, the number of people awaiting a donor kidney transplant in the United States has exceeded 60,000. A record number of 60,046 people across the nation are waiting for kidneys.

Nationally, this represents an increase of six percent compared to a year ago; an increase of 36 percent compared to five years ago; and an increase of 129 percent compared to 1994.

In New York State, 5,244, or 8.7 percent of the national total, are awaiting life-saving kidney transplants. For New York , this represents an increase of 8.2 percent compared to a year ago; an increase of 25 percent compared to five years ago; and an increase of 114 percent compared to 1994.

Data on transplant candidates are kept by the nation's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

Elaine Berg, president and CEO of the New York Organ Donor Network, the federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization serving the New York metro, said: “While we have seen a 20% increase in the number of organ donors in our area this year, the gap between the number of deceased donors and those in need of kidneys and other organs continues to widen.”

“In this, the 50 th anniversary year since the world's first successful kidney transplant in Boston,” Ms. Berg added, “we appeal to all New Yorkers to become informed about organ donation, sign their driver's licenses and the state donor registry, and talk to their families about their decision. The more people who are willing to be donors of kidneys and other organs and tissues, the more lives we can save.”

"We wish we could meet the needs of all transplant candidates today, and we are seeing encouraging recent increases in organ donation," said OPTN/UNOS President Robert Metzger, M.D. "At the same time, the demand for transplantation continues to grow. The demand for kidney transplants has doubled in the past ten years."

The kidney is the organ most commonly transplanted and most commonly needed. Kidney failure can occur from a variety of illnesses including diabetes, hypertension and diseases that damage the specialized cells of the kidney. African Americans and Hispanics tend to have higher rates of kidney failure than other ethnicities and account for more than half of the candidates needing transplants.

In 2003, a record total of 15,137 kidney transplants were performed nationwide. More than 40 percent of the transplants came from living donors who provided one of their two healthy kidneys. "Living donation certainly helps meet the needs of thousands of people each year," said Dr. Metzger. "But for many more, the only option is to have a transplant from a deceased donor. We can all help meet their needs by making and sharing a commitment to become an organ and tissue donor."

For free information about organ and tissue donation, New Yorkers can visit the New York Organ Donor Network's Web site at www.donatelifeny.org or call 1-800-GIFT-4-NY.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) is operated under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Division of Transplantation by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The OPTN brings together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop organ transplantation policy.

The New York Organ Donor Network , founded in 1978, is the second largest of the nation's 58 nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs). It is responsible for the recovery of organs and tissues for transplantation, and public and professional education efforts for a culturally and ethnically diverse population of 13 million in the Greater New York metropolitan area. The Donor Network serves Manhattan , Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Dutchess, Orange , Putnam, Rockland , and Westchester, and also Pike County , PA. It works closely with nine transplant centers and more than 100 hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. All hospitals are required by law to notify the Donor Network (their local OPO) of all in-hospital deaths in a timely manner, so that organ and tissue donation can be discussed with families of the deceased. The Donor Network is a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing ( UNOS ), which oversees the national transplant waiting list as well as all transplant centers and OPOs in the United States.

For more information, contact Martin Woolf at 212-870-3960 and, from Nov. 22: 646-291-4444. Email: mwoolf@nyodn.org