Becoming a living liver donor
As a donor, who can I donate to?
As a donor, you may be able to donate directly to a specific person, or more generally to anyone in need of a liver transplant.
Directed donation
Directed donation is when you donate an organ to a specific person.
In directed donation, the donor may be:
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A blood relative of the recipient, such as a parent, brother, sister, or adult child
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Someone close to the recipient, such as a spouse, a friend, or a co-worker
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Someone who the donor has heard about but does not know personally
Non-directed donation
Non-directed donation is when you want to donate but do not know (and may never know) the person you will donate to.
In non-directed donation, the donor may be:
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Someone wishing to donate to a stranger on the transplant waitlist
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Someone who begins the process to donate to a friend or family member, but later decides to donate to a stranger after the friend or family member gets an organ from someone else
How will I know if I match with someone in need of a liver?
If you match with someone well (called medically compatible), this will lower the chance that the recipient’s body will reject the transplanted liver. Rejection is when a recipient’s body sees the new liver as foreign and tries to attack or destroy it. This could lead to the transplant failing.
Transplant centers do tests to match donors and recipients by:
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Body size: The donor’s and recipient’s bodies should be about the same size, which means their livers will be about the same size (except if an adult is donating to a child).
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Liver anatomy: Certain parts of the donor’s liver, such as large blood vessels that flow through it, must be in a location that allows surgeons to place the liver into the recipient’s body.
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Blood type: Certain donor blood types only work with certain recipient blood types:
If your blood type is...
The recipient's blood type must be...
If your blood type is
O
The recipient blood type must be
A, B, AB, or O
If your blood type is
AB
The recipient blood type must be
AB
If your blood type is
A
The recipient blood type must be
A or AB
If your blood type is
B
The recipient blood type must be
B or AB
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Tissue typing (also called “HLA typing”): A blood test that compares 6 antigens (proteins found on cells). The more antigens that match between you and the recipient, the more likely the recipient’s body will accept the donated liver (and the less likely it will be to reject it).
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Crossmatching: Another blood test in which your blood is mixed with the recipient’s blood to see if the antibodies (proteins in the immune system) in the blood react to each other. If they do, it means the recipient’s body is likely to reject the donated liver.
Can I still donate if I am not a match with the recipient?
Sometimes, a person wants to donate part of their liver, but testing shows they are not a match for the person they hoped to help. This can happen because of blood types or other medical reasons.
In this case, transplant centers can work to match donors and recipients to create compatible pairs. Think about it as a swap or an exchange:
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A paired donation is a swap between two donor and recipient pairs.
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A donor chain is a swap between several pairs of donors and recipients.