How many times can you use an organ for transplants?

Question

If I gave my heart to someone or kidney perhaps, would they be able to donate it when they pass on?

Answer 1

YES,.an organ can be donated multiple times, as long as it's still living tissue,.,.

good luck,.,.thanks,..,

Answer 2

Once in almost every circumstance.

The one exception would be someone who dies very soon after a transplant (measured in days) , where the organ is still viable.

Once an organ is transplanted it usually stays with the person. The reasons to remove an organ include:

Rejection where the organ must be replaced with a functioning organ (i.e. liver, heart, lungs).

Rejected organs are dead, since the vessels suppling the organ are destroyed and the organ is useless. These are not usually removed in the case of kidney transplants as there is no need.
If a person dies weeks after a transplant the organ is usually unsuitable. The first case is rejection as above. Another reason is that transplanted organs do not last forever and if the transplant recipient dies after having the organ for a period of time, the organ is not suitable.

Other causes of death that result in an usable organ includes sepsis (overwhelming infection), failure of the organ, progression of another disease process which may damage the transplanted organ (e.g. hepatitis that starts to destroy the transplanted liver).

In addition, the medications used for immunosuppression often mildly damage the organs transplanted (e.g. cyclosporin used in kideny transplants is toxic to the kidneys).

And finally as with any surgery, once an organ is transplanted scar tissue forms around and into the organ making it technically difficult to remove without damage.

One interesting scenario is the "Domino Transplant" when it is easier to tranplant en-bloc heart and lungs for cystic fibrosis (technically easier than lungs alone), but the recipients heart is healthy and can be donated to someone who only needs a heart transplant.

Answer 3

It depends on how well the first transplant went.

If the organ doesn't have too much scar tissue from the first transplant and wasn't damaged by the first recipient's body attempting to reject it (that always happens to some degree), it should be reusable.

Answer 4

Done after one transplant. The have done what they call “domino” liver transplants…where you have 2 patient’s needing liver transplants. Patient 1 is sicker than patient 2. Patient 2 gets a new liver and they give patient 1 their old liver to bridge them through until they get a good one….It’s weird, but it keeps the sicker paitent alive until the right liver comes in for them.

Answer 5

Everything runs down sooner or later, so I believe that it could only be used 1more time after.

Answer 6

Hi. I have never heard of any reason why not.

Answer 7

i doubt it. those organs are so sensitive too much trauma is no good.