There are three different organizations that must work quickly and in concert to successfully bring a kidney to a recipient. These are the local organ procurement organization (OPO), the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), and a Transplant Center, such as Lahey. The sequence of events is outlined below.
Sequence of Events
1. Update UNOS: After receiving authorization from the family of the deceased, the organ procurement organization (OPO) will update the UNOS database with the donor's information to inform them that a kidney and other organs have been made available. The organs will not be harvested at this time.
2. Search for Matches: UNOS, who manages the nationwide organ waitlist, will search for candidates who match the available organs based on location, medical characteristics, and compatibility tests with the organ. It will produce a ranked list of candidates.
3. Inform Transplant Center: UNOS will then contact the transplant center of the first candidate on the list. In this case they will inform Lahey Hospital that a kidney is available for their transplant candidate.
4. Lahey Calls Candidate: Lahey Hospital will check if the candidate is available and willing to be transplanted immediately. If Lahey cannot get ahold of the candidate within 60 minutes, or if he is unable to get to the hospital in a timely manner, the kidney will be made available for the next person on the list.
5. Candidate Approved: If the candidate responds in a timely manner, and is found to be healthy enough for surgery, the transplant surgery will be scheduled within hours. Lahey will inform UNOS that the candidate is ready for transplantation.
6. UNOS Authorization: UNOS will give authorization to the OPO to extract the kidney from the deceased donor. UNOS will inform the OPO that the kidney needs to be transported to Lahey Hospital.
7. Organ Harvesting: The OPO will wait for all donated organs (liver, both kidneys, pancreas, etc.) to find a recipient. They will then take responsibility to carefully harvest the organs, place each in a preservative solution, and transport them to their respective transplant centers.
8. Further Preparations: Once the donated organs have been removed, the body of the deceased donor will be prepared for arrangements according to the family’s wishes. The donor will still be able to have an open-casket funeral, if so desired by the family.
9. Transplant Surgery: The kidney will arrive at Lahey Hospital, where the transplant surgery will take place.
