Right now, 49,695 people in Brazil are waiting for a phone call that could change their lives: the notification that a compatible body has appeared.
Brazil is a reference in organ transplantation, fourth in the world in absolute number of transplants. Still, the number of procedures performed does not account for the queue. This happens due to difficulties in donating organs.
This week, the family of goalkeeper Miguel Meneses, aged 14, who died after a traffic accident, decided to donate organs. The action should help save the lives of at least six people: the heart, corneas, kidneys and liver were captured.
Since the beginning of the year, for example, 7,400 transplants have been carried out. The number represents almost 15% of patients waiting for a donation. And the queue grows every day.
The biggest demand, by far, is for kidneys: there are 46,132 people waiting. Next come liver (2,377) and heart (516).
The kidney filters the blood and eliminates toxins from the body. It is the organ most affected by two of the most common diseases in the country, diabetes and high blood pressure, which gradually damage the kidneys until they stop working.
While waiting for the transplant, the patient can undergo hemodialysis, in which a machine does part of the work that the kidney no longer does. Therefore, it is possible to wait years for a kidney, which is not the case for those who need a heart or lungs.
See how many people are waiting for each organ:
Kidney: 46,132
Liver: 2,377
Heart: 516
Pancreas and kidney (double transplant): 372
Lung: 265
Pancreas: 29
Multivisceral: 4
Multivisceral transplantation is the rarest and most complex. Stomach, intestine, liver and pancreas, among other organs, are removed from the same donor and transplanted en bloc.
Men make up 58% of the queue (29,015 people), and women, 42% (20,680). In both groups, the group with the most patients is between 50 and 64 years old: 11,506 men and 7,593 women. Then come people aged 35 to 49 and those over 65.
The list also includes children. There are 149 boys and 157 girls aged 11 to 17 waiting. Among babies under 1 year old, there are 15 boys and 15 girls.
The list is managed by the Unified Health System (SUS) and is unique. Public and private patients wait in the same queue. The order takes into account the registration time, but also the severity of each case. A patient who is able to undergo hemodialysis, for example, may be overtaken by another in a more serious condition who is waiting for the same organ.
Compatibility between donor and recipient also matters. For lungs and heart, the size of the organ needs to be suitable for the recipient's body, which makes these organs more difficult to find.
Solid organs, such as kidney, liver and heart, can only be donated by people with brain death. The cornea can be donated by anyone who has died, even after the heart has stopped. Bone marrow, part of the liver and one of the kidneys can be donated while alive.
Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, Chagas disease and hepatitis B and C do not prevent donation. HIV, cancer and serious organ infection are among the few impediments.
Each organ has a maximum period between removal and transplantation, the so-called cold ischemia time. For heart and lungs, it is 6 to 8 hours. For the liver, up to 12 hours. For the kidney, 24 hours.
There are two ways to declare yourself a donor: register your intention on your identity card or issue the Electronic Organ Donation Authorization (AEDO), done online and validated at a notary's office. The statement allows the medical team to know the patient's wishes, but does not require the family's authorization.
