The Process Leading Up to an Organ Transplant
For the time being, harvest of organs from brain dead donors can be performed at about 400 facilities including university hospitals, Japan Emergency Medical Guidance Facilities, and special neurosurgical training facilities designated "A" by the Fellows of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. Transplant facilities are limited too.The purpose of limiting transplant facilities is to promote the steady development of expertise in transplanting organs through the accumulation of experience and improvement of success rates. A patient in search of a transplant must enter a designated hospital as soon as a donor appears. Presently, the time available from an organ's harvest to its transport to a designated hospital to transplant and finally to reperfusion of blood is: four hours for a heart; 12 hours for a liver; eight hours for a lung; and 48 hours for a kidney. The transplantation process of course, is constantly being reviewed based on the most recent technological developments, so that all transplants can be performed under the best conditions.
JOTNW, along with the Assessment Committee and the Regional Assessment Committee, rigorously evaluates the propriety and fairness of organ transplants. Kidney transplants from heart-arrested donors can still be performed simply by obtaining consent from the donor's family; this procedure can be conducted at 174 transplant facilities throughout Japan.