Current techniques of organ procurement and organ conservation

Since organ transplantation became a standard procedure in medicine, some interdisciplinary discussion has evolved around the availability of organs for transplantation. The shortage of available donors leads to numerous deaths on waiting lists where heart, lung and liver disease is concerned. Patients on dialysis spend years waiting for a suitable cadaveric graft. The shortage of organs has widened not only the selection criteria for cadaveric donors and the optimization of procurement but also has led to the increased acceptance of relatives and friends as living donors for kidneys, parts of the liver and maybe in the future of the lung. It has to be decided in which direction one wants to influence the discussion about the retrieval of an adequate number of organs for our waiting patients.