Curious if Blood Type Influences wait time for transplant

[Marydel63]

Just curious, when waiting for a liver transplant , is the wait longer for different blood types?

Thanks

[AyrshireK]

Blood type can influence wait time ALOT.

When any donor organ becomes available T/P hospital looks at its list for the different blood groups A, B, AB, O and looks at who is the best match for the liver based on body size then they look at who is the most poorly from that list and they are the patient who gets the call.

O is by far the biggest list (48% UK population are O) - it is the most common blood group of all so there are more people on that list. Ok there are also more O donors too but an O liver is a universal match so they can also be given to those waiting on the A, B and AB lists. O patients generally have the longest wait. UNLESS THEY ARE SEVERELY POORLY THEN THEY WILL BE HIGH UP THE LIST.

A, B & AB have shorter lists and whilst there are fewer A, B, AB donors remember they can also receive an O liver so rarer blood types generally get transplant quicker.

The most poorly will always be top of their given list and it then depends on body size match and type of liver the patient was deemed suitable to need i.e. some people can only have a full liver, some smaller people can have a split liver, some NEED a brain deceased donation (best liver) and some can accept a liver where the donor was cardiac deceased.

Hope that helps explain it a bit. Some people especially friends and family think its a waiting time situation like you go up the list the longer you wait but you could be top of the list today and someone more poorly presents tomorrow and you are no longer the top.

Regular monitoring ensures that T/P co-ordinators know who is the highest priority in any given list and that person will always get first call.

Hope whoever it is gets their call soon.

Katie

[Marydel63 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thank you very informative!

[h0b0 in reply to Marydel63]

Katie is a godsend on here.xx

[soooze50 in reply to h0b0]

Agree!