Which human organs can be used for transplants?

Amber Smith/The Post-Standard 

Organs go to recipients who have compatible blood types, plus other factors specific to each organ. They are first offered to people on waiting lists within the same geographic region as the donor. The sickest individuals are highest on the waiting lists.

From 900 to 1,000 patients are on waiting lists from Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, which offers kidney transplants, and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, which transplants kidneys, pancreases, livers and hearts.

When a person who has agreed to donate his or her organs dies, that sets in motion an intricate process of locating recipients and arranging transportation for each organ. The clock starts when the blood supply is severed from the donor. Organs are preserved, not frozen, in a cold electrolyte solution until they can be transplanted into the recipient. Most organs are carried from one hospital to the other via ambulance or airplane, or by courier service in the case of kidneys and tissues.

Read about two Central New York families who lost children, and chose to donate their organs.

Here's a look at the organs and tissues that can be transplanted:

• Hearts and lungs must be removed from the donor and transplanted into the recipients within a four-hour window, and donor and recipient need to be the same size. A heart available in the Syracuse area would first be offered to a patient in Rochester; if Rochester had no suitable recipient, then to patients at hospitals within a 500-mile radius, such as in Boston, Cleveland, New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

• Small intestines need to be transplanted within eight hours or so, and also must match in size between donor and recipient. In this region, New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center provides transplants of the small intestine. 

• Liver transplants need to take place within 12 hours, and the donor and recipient must be similar in size. 

• Pancreas transplants also need to occur within 12 hours. Blood compatibility is not enough; donor and recipient blood and tissue proteins also must match.

• Kidney transplants must take place within a 24-hour window. As with the pancreas, compatible blood types are not enough; blood and tissue proteins also must match.

• Tissues are removed within 12 to 24 hours. Blood type between donor and recipient does not have to match for corneas and eyes, bone, skin and veins. Heart valves may also be donated, if the heart itself cannot be transplanted.