Now the number of organ donations in Sweden will increase

Six intensive care units in Sweden have for one year been part of a pilot study to test a new donation form. They have now been given the go ahead. The hope is that more people will be able to donate organs.

- My main task is to take care of the patients I have, but sometimes it is not possible to save lives. Then my responsibility continues. If a person wants to donate their organs after their death, my goal is to make it possible, says Karin Hildebrand, who is an intensive care physician at Södersjukhuset, which is one of the hospitals included in the study.

How, then, is it possible that Swedes are so willing to donate while there is a shortage of donors?

To date, only one person who dies in an intensive care unit while being cared for in a respirator has been able to become an organ donor. The respirator helps the sick person to breathe, and it can continue to oxygenate the organs for a limited time even after the person has died.

Relatives can take leave while the health care staff has time to prepare for organ extraction and donation surgery.

But many who are cared for in intensive care units after a sudden accident do not die when in a respirator.

In Sweden, these individuals have not been able to become donors, but this has long been possible in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands.

So donation after death occurred without a respirator is called DCD, donation after circulatory failure. The donation form is now being introduced in Sweden and places new demands on health care. Once death has been established, the relatives cannot remain because the organs must be operated out of the body shortly thereafter.

- The organs do not feel good to lie in a warm body without oxygen supply. It must go fast but it must also be respectful, ”says Karin Hildebrand.

The health care has calculated that if you introduce DCD in all intensive care units in Sweden, you can get hundreds of new donation organs.

Here you can register for the National Board of Health's donation register.

See “Organ on the road” in the Science world on Monday 20.00 in SVT2 on September 23 and the “Donation” on Tuesday 21.00 SVT1 on September 24, or already on SVT Play.