Editor’s Note: According to information provided to BY Local News Media, the donor was from Lafayette, Louisiana, and the transplant was performed at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida.
Covington, LA – Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) and Lafayette General Hospital recently made state history with facilitation of an organ donation from a 91-year-old donor hero, the most senior donor on record. On March 25, the lifesaving transplantation of a healthy liver into a 68-year-old recipient was successfully conducted. The accepting transplant center reports that the recipient continues to thrive.
“This remarkable feat underscores the fact that there is no age limit when it comes to organ donation,” said LOPA President and CEO Brett Gordon. “No one is too old to say, ‘yes,” to donation. The single most critical factor contributing to donation is simply saying, ‘yes.’ ”
He added that the recipient now has more memories to make and more life to live thanks to the most generous gift of organ donation. Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, vice president and chief of the Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Transplant Institute, reported that the recipient went home four days after the successful surgery and has experienced no liver dysfunction. Having accepted the liver for transplantation, he stated he is extremely grateful for the partnership between LOPA and TGH.
This donation was completed after circulatory death (known as DCD) utilizing normothermic regional perfusion (NRP), and involved the oldest LOPA DCD donor on record. NRP is a technique used after death to help preserve organ viability. It can improve the likelihood that organs work properly after transplant and increase the number and quality of organs available for patients in need.
“All of this has been made possible because the donor’s family said, ‘yes,’ to organ donation. The LOPA team and hospital partners who facilitated the DCD process and the use of NRP are all to be applauded for their commitment, passion, and resilience in making life happen,” Gordon said.
“How wonderful that age is no longer a factor in LOPA’s quest to meet every need and make every gift of donation possible, everywhere. The potential to leave a lifesaving legacy has no age limit.”
As Louisiana’s designated Organ Procurement Agency by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), viable organs are placed across the nation according to compatibility. Last year marked the largest number of lives saved, and individuals healed, through organ and tissue donation in the state’s history. There were 336 organ donors and 838 tissue donors who gave the gift of life resulting in 997 lifesaving organ transplants and thousands of tissue grafts restoring sight, mobility, and health for individuals in Louisiana and across the country.
Louisiana’s growing commitment to generosity with organ donation designation and expanded use of data, recovery technologies, and clinical systems have combined to result in a 13 percent increase in the total number of organs transplanted last year.
Louisiana residents are always encouraged to join the Louisiana Donor Registry through a variety of pathways: in-person at the Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV), online at lopa.org, through the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, or via the LA Wallet App.
