Thread: Organ Transplants

I was wondering, can a six foot tall person donate, let's say, a kidney to a four foot tall person? Do discrepancies in organ size limit what can be excepted by a patient needing a transplant? Also, and I may be way off on this, but isn't there a substantial amount of Hindu and Buddhist organ donors? And, hypothetically speaking, don't people of those faiths tend to be smaller in stature? Is there a certain amount of possible transplantable material that is, um, too small for people waiting for transplants? I know blood type is what you normally need for compatibility, but I was wondering what the other factors are as well. Any help?

Anybody?!?

Size doesnt really matter, organ size, especially for a kidney wouldnt normally vary that much and anyway, the kidney is placed in a different place to where it woul normally be found for easy access if something goes wrong.

As for compatability, the MHC, Major histocompatability Complex is the main issue for organ rejection. It's a protein receptor expressed on every cell in your body (to keep it short!!!)

And that part I understand, maybe not the technical aspects of histological compatibility, but I know there is a definite variation in organ sizes as a result of body proportions and a slue of different body sizes in a given population. It just seems like you could run into a situation where the liver you were suppose to get ends up being to large or small for you. Imagine being a five foot Asian guy with a six foot six Norwegian’s liver stuffed in his abdomen. That just seems problematic to me, and a little funny!

Hi, I'm a school student and from my research on the following topic, i have found that no organ transplants are affected much by the size of the donor or recipient. Although the way that it can affect the recepient is that if the organs are smaller than the previous ones, than the body finds it harder to operate under the pressure. So I hope that answers your question.