Who Needs Transplants?
People in endstage organ failure require transplantation to survive. The majority of potential recipients do not have lifestyle related illnesses, for example, the most common need for a heart transplant is related to dilated cardiomyopathy, which is an inherited genetic condition. Young people with cystic fibrosis require lung transplants. Liver failure is often due to disease such as haemacromotosis, sclerosing cholangitis, autoimmune disease and hepatitis C. The majority of children who require liver transplants have a congenital disease known as biliary atresia. People with kidney failure can be treated with dialysis until a kidney becomes available. People in endstage liver, heart or lung failure do not have a form of treatment to tide them over until they receive a transplant. People who have suffered diseases or damage to their eyes, resulting in blindness, can have sight-restoring corneal transplants. Similarly, someone who has had severe injury or cancer in a limb can receive
