The OPTN waiting list, 1988-2000.

More patients in the United states are waiting for organ transplants that at any time in the past and the remarkable growth of the UNOS waiting list has become a key issue for the transplant community. 1. On October 31, 2001, there were 84,277, registrations on the combined UNOS waiting list. Among these, 63% were awaiting kidney transplantation, and 22% were awaiting liver transplantation. 2. The majority of patients on the UNOS waiting list on October 31, 2000, were of blood type O (52%), white (55%) and male (58%), and awaiting their first transplant (87%). 3. The percentage transplanted within one year of listing has been declining for most organs, although that percentage has been somewhat stable for heart and lung between 1998-2000. 4. Blood type and medical urgency have a significant impact upon the percent transplanted within one year of listing for most organ types. Patients awaiting heart, pancreas, and intestinal transplants experience the highest probability of receiving a transplant within one year. 5. Deaths per patients waiting have declined since 1988 for most patients awaiting life-saving organs and have remained relatively low for those awaiting a kidney, pancreas, or kidney-pancreas transplant. Deaths were highest for lung and heart-lung patients, but appear to be declining.