European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 9, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To your health new York Timat photo about 9,000 americans Are awaiting kidney transplant hoping to be freed from the need for dialysis. Vying for donor organs associated press transplant agencies will be forced this fall to standardize procedures in deciding who should receive organs or Ace loss of funding under the guidelines of a new National Organ distribution network. The new system was devised in an attempt to make distribution of organs More fair and Ould result in fewer Public appeals. The idea that i retrieved it Arki it s mine is simply not defensible or. John Mcdonald president of the United network for Organ sharing or unos said when the system was announced at the annual meeting of the american society of transplant physicians. Not Only is it the Law it is the right thing to  beginning oct. 1, All of America s approximately 110 Organ procurement agencies 200 transplant centers and numerous transplant tissue typing laboratories will have to participate in the Organ procurement and transplantation network or risk losing Federal medicare reimbursements. The computerized network was established by unos last fall under a $300,000 Federal contract. Under this contract unos is required to collect data on All organs donated in this country maintain a list off All Hose awaiting transplants and serve As a watchdog for centers with unusually poor results. About 10,000 americans Are awaiting Organ transplants including 9,000 in need of kidneys. Because of donor shortages Only about 20 percent actually get kidneys according to or. Robert j. Corry president of the american society of transplant surgeons. Some doctors Are opposed to the new system. I am willing to fulfil any criteria. But somebody must show me that they do better than i do. And until that time comes i Don t want anybody to Tell me what i have to do said or. Folkert o. Belzer of the University of Wisconsin. Under the new system Organ procurement agencies and transplant centers will have to distribute most organs based on a Point system approved by the unos Board of directors. The agencies also will have to share Access to kidneys considered near perfect matches which comprise fewer than 5 percent of All donated kidneys. Such organs will go to those patients hardest to match. Among the factors to be considered in the Point system will be the patient s Lime on the wailing list medical urgency and proximity to the donor. All recipients must have equal Access to available organs Mcdonald said. Equal Access implies that transplantation is to be formed for medical reasons that there be no preferential treatments that organs not be purchased that there be no profiteering in the distribution of  because some transplant cases receive More Media attention than others patients families often mistakenly believe that is the Best Way to get organs which Are still very much in Short Supply said or. Samuel Matheny director of the . Office of Organ. Transplantation. For example letters pour in daily to Matheny s office from desperate families seeking presidential support he said. The Public feels that High ranking officials can help them find organs. They also feel it creates a greater awareness. Of their personal plight. That probably is True in certain  depending on How the new Organ sharing guidelines Are transplant agencies eventually May have to share Access to All kidneys and possibly other organs. Equal Access would enable centers to find better matched kidneys or More patients said or. Paul Terasaki of the University of California at los Angeles who keeps a world registry of kidney transplants. In turn such sharing would Lead to better Long term Success rates and savings of millions of dollars a year in dialysis costs he said. It probably does increase Access especially for hard to match patients and children Matheny said. It May mean that fewer kidneys will be discarded. It also May increase the number of kidneys that Are both procured and  transplants offer Hope for diabetics Bomarc Idunn associated press pancreas transplantation is offering More Promise than Ever to insulin dependent diabetics and has halted and even reversed the progression of diabetes related nerve disorders surgeons said recently. The procedure in fact appears to be ridding patients of All complications associated with the disease said or. Walter land president of the european society of transplantation. There is a curative effect land told the american society of transplant surgeons. An estimated 11 million americans suffer from diabetes a Dise arc caused by the body s inability to produce or properly use insulin said John a. Colwell president elect of the american diabetes association. About 300,000 diabetics die each year As a result of such complications Cowell said. Insulin a hormone produced by the pancreas is needed to convert sugar starches and other food into Energy. The vast majority of diabetics about 10 million can control the disease through diet exercise and Oral medication. The rest need daily injections of insulin. In a paper presented recently surgeons at the University of Minnesota say pancreas transplants Are successfully halting the progression of nerve disorders among insulin dependent diabetics. Such disorders include decreased sensation shooting pains weakness and decreased ability to do Fine manipulations. More serious complications include blindness gangrene and heart and kidney disease. But the doctors cautioned that the benefits must be weighed against the Side effects caused by the anti rejection therapy needed by transplant patients the rest of their lives. Side effects of the anti rejection drug cyclosporine include reduced kidney and liver function. For Many of diabetics however there now is Hope. So far More than 1,000 pancreas transplants have been performed around the world said the University of Minnesota s or. David Sutherland who keeps a world registry. More than 300 were performed last year about half in the United states. Up to 50 percent of the new organs Are functioning after a year better than Ever though still far behind the Success rates of other transplants Sutherland said. Eighty percent of the patients some of them Back on insulin because of failed transplants Are alive. Donor cards just a first step associated press ewer than 20 percent of americans have completed Organ donor cards telling hospitals what to do in Case of their deaths according to a recently released Gallup Survey. Eighty two percent of those polled said they would donate a loved one s organs while 48 percent said they would donate their own. However the poll found that Only 61 percent would give permission if the donor was their child. The Survey was commissioned by the take initiative program on transplantation an organization established by Dow chemical co. To educate the Public on the need for Organ transplants. Many vital Organ donations Are lost because families Are not asked about gifts of organs and tissues and Don t know the wishes of the deceased tip officials said recently. Signed donor cards Are simply a first step because hospitals will not remove organs and tissues without approval of the next of Kin according to the group. However prior family discussion eases the Burden of decision at the time of the tragedy they said. Those who have donor cards tend to be better educated 25 to 29 years of age live in the West and have higher incomes than those who Don to the Survey also found. Americans who Aren t willing to donate say they never thought about it or cited old age As reasons according to the poll. Gallup surveyed 1,055 people Over age 18 from March 6-15. The poll had an error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage Points. Tuesday june 9, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17