Can I donate my body for study

I have heart disease and Hep C. I would like to have my body used to help find a cure

[HectorSF]

Body donation is necessary to understanding the human body and for advancing science. Institutions that take such donations use whole, bodies to teach anatomy to medical students. Some institutions accept embalmed bodies and some do not, potential donors must ask before proceeding.

To learn more about donating your full body go to Texas A&M web site
http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/willed-body/faq.html

Or The University of Texas
http://www.uth.tmc.edu/nba/willedbody/
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If they won't accept your body you could always donate your organs even if you have hepatitis C and can save up to 8 people's lives. You could also donate tissues and help up to 50 people.

People who have Hepatitis C should still register their decision to be an organ and tissue donor and discuss their decision with those close to them as they could be able to donate organs and tissue to other people with Hepatitis C. All people with Hepatitis are still potentially able to become organ and tissue donors.

MYTH: I have a history of medical illness. You would not want my organs, tissues or eyes.
FACT: At the time of your death, medical professionals will determine whether your organs, tissues and eyes are usable. With recent advances in transplantation, more people than ever before can be donors.

MYTH: Only your heart, liver and kidneys can be transplanted.
FACT: Organs that can be donated include the heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver and intestines. Tissues that can be donated include the corneas, skin, bone, heart valves and tendons.

MYTH: My religion does not support donation.
FACT: Most mainstream, organized religions approve of organ, tissue and eye donation and consider it an act of charity.

To learn more about organ donation please visit the following web site.

Every day, 17 people die waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

I hope this helps.
Thank you for thinking of helping others when you no longer need your body or body parts.
Hectorsf

[rickmasey]

How do I donate my organs, and any other useable parts in Texas? I do have Hep C & heart disease. What happens to the unuseable parts?
Thanks, Rick

[R Glass]

McDonald’s or Burger King.

They will take your useable bits and then sew you back together for if your family wants to have an open casket. Otherwise, what's left will be cremated.

[mikesimon]

Something you may not know - not intended to discourage anyone about organ donation - just information.

'Donation After Cardiac Death' Worsens Liver Transplant Survival

  
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 04 - Liver transplant patients have significantly worse survival odds with grafts obtained after cardiac death instead of brain death, according to a study of U.S. data.

"Donation after cardiac death" (DCD) livers are known to have relatively poor graft survival, according to a February 19th report in the Journal of Hepatology, but studies of patient survival have only looked at small cohorts - until now.

Dr. Anton Skaro and colleagues from Northwestern University in Chicago analyzed national data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients on more than 43,000 liver transplants -- 1113 from DCD donors and 42,254 from brain death donors.

Patients who received DCD livers were generally older compared to the other patients, but they had fewer risk characteristics (lower MELD scores, less likely on life support, and less likely to be hospitalized) and more favorable transplant factors (younger donor age, shorter cold ischemia time, and lower rates of vasopressor use).

Despite these favorable features, 1- and 3-year patient survival rates were 82% and 71%, respectively, with DCD livers compared to 86% and 77% with livers obtained from after brain death (p<.0001 for survival after primary transplant).

After adjusting for differences in donor and recipient factors, DCD recipients had a 44% higher mortality risk.

"This increased hazard for mortality is similar in magnitude to the mortality risks of other well-known donor and recipient factors," the investigators note, including older donor age, older recipient age, and hepatitis C or hepatocellular carcinoma in the recipient.

The mortality risks got worse, though, when DCD organs were combined with cold ischemia time greater than 12 hours (hazard ratio 1.81), shared organs (HR 1.69), hepatocellular carcinoma (HR 1.80), recipient age older than 60 (HR 1.92), and renal insufficiency (HR 1.82).

But beggars can't be choosers.

"Many of these patients may have not been offered a (brain death) liver, so survival results of 82% at one year and 71% at three years should be considered in light of the high mortality risks associated with remaining on the waiting list," the researchers say. "This is especially salient given that 30-day mortality is between 19% and 47% for patients with a MELD greater than 20."

Retransplantation was required more than twice as often after DCD transplant (14.7% vs 6.8%; p<.001), but survival after retransplantation did not differ significantly according to the original graft source.

Mike

[Junebug812]

Just as a side note, make sure your wishes are well known by your loved ones. When my brother died his wife, who the family didn't know well as they met on the internet while he was very ill and they married after meeting twice in person, didn't let us know for two days that he had died (I wondered why he wasn't answering my last email), and once she bothered to tell us, she'd already given his body to a teaching hospital. Strange thing is, I had helped my brother pick out a suit to be buried in and he never mentioned to me that he wanted his body to be donated. She had power of attorney. He had lots of insurance $. Anyway, I wish he'd had his wishes in writing and had distributed that info to his family. I think donation is great, but only if that is what the person wishes to have happen and I think it's a good idea to have that discussion with people who love you so they will know what to expect.