A single deceased organ donor can donate up to eight major organs: two kidneys, a liver, two lungs, a heart, a pancreas, and intestines. When you add tissues like corneas, skin, bone, and heart valves, one donor can save up to nine lives through organ transplants and improve more than 150 lives through tissue donation.
But the full picture is more expansive than most people realize. Between solid organs, tissues, and newer types of transplants involving hands, faces, and even a uterus, the list of what a human body can provide to others keeps growing.
The Eight Major Organs
These are the solid organs recovered from deceased donors for transplantation:
- Kidneys (2)
- Liver (1)
- Lungs (2)
- Heart (1)
- Pancreas (1)
- Intestines (1)
Kidneys are by far the most commonly transplanted. In 2019 alone, over 17,400 kidneys were transplanted from deceased donors in the U.S., followed by roughly 8,275 livers, 3,604 hearts, and 2,607 lungs. Pancreas and intestine transplants are far less common, with about 1,018 and 81 performed that year respectively.
Not every donor provides all eight organs. Which organs can be recovered depends on the donor’s medical condition, how they died, and how quickly the recovery process begins after death. Some organs tolerate limited blood flow better than others, so the circumstances of each case determine what’s viable.
Tissues You Can Also Donate
Beyond the major organs, tissue donation dramatically expands what one person can give. Tissue banks can store and distribute:
- Corneas
- Skin
- Heart valves
- Bone
- Cartilage
- Tendons and ligaments
- Veins
- Middle ear structures
These tissues are used in a wide range of procedures. Donated corneas restore sight. Skin grafts help burn victims. Donated bone and cartilage support orthopedic reconstructions. Heart valves replace damaged ones without requiring the full complexity of a heart transplant. Because a single donor can provide many different tissue types, and each type can help multiple recipients, the total number of people helped by one tissue donor can exceed 150.
Hands, Faces, and Other Composite Transplants
A newer and more complex category of donation involves transplanting entire body parts that contain multiple tissue types: bone, muscle, nerves, skin, and blood vessels all connected together. These are called vascularized composite allografts, and they include:
- Upper limbs (hands, arms, forearm segments)
- Face (including underlying bone and muscle)
- Abdominal wall
- Uterus
- Larynx and trachea
- Lower limbs (including toe transfers)
- Genitourinary organs
These surgeries are rare and technically demanding. Face transplants have only been performed on a small number of patients worldwide. But they represent a growing frontier, and the list of recognized transplantable body parts from a single donor continues to expand as surgical techniques improve.
What Living Donors Can Give
You don’t have to be deceased to be a donor. Living donors can give:
- One kidney (the remaining kidney compensates for the loss)
- A segment of the liver (both the donated portion and the remaining portion regrow to functional size within a couple of months)
- One lobe of a lung
- Part of the pancreas
- Part of the intestine
The liver’s ability to regenerate is what makes living liver donation possible. After surgery, the donor’s remaining liver typically grows back to its previous size, volume, and capacity within roughly two months. The transplanted segment in the recipient regrows on a similar timeline.
Living donors can also give certain tissues. Skin removed during cosmetic surgeries like a tummy tuck, bone from hip or knee replacements, bone marrow, blood products, and even the amniotic membrane donated after childbirth can all be used to help others.
Who Can Be a Donor
Almost anyone can register as an organ donor regardless of age or health status. The decision about which organs and tissues are suitable for transplant is made at the time of death by medical professionals, not at the time of registration. People with well-managed chronic conditions, older adults, and those who might assume they’re ineligible are often surprised to learn their organs or tissues could still help someone.
Certain conditions do rule out donation. Active infections like HIV, hepatitis B or C, tuberculosis, or prion diseases generally disqualify a donor. Bodies that have been autopsied, severely damaged, or that can’t be recovered within a specific time window after death may also be ineligible. But these are assessed case by case, and the general recommendation is to register and let medical teams make the final call.
Why the Numbers Matter
Over 103,000 people are currently on the national transplant waiting list in the United States. Thirteen people die each day waiting for an organ that never comes. The gap between supply and demand is enormous, and kidneys account for the largest share of the need.
When you consider that a single deceased donor can provide up to eight organs, dozens of tissue grafts, and potentially composite body parts like hands or facial structures, the impact of one person’s decision to register is hard to overstate. The math is straightforward: more registered donors means more lives saved, and one donor truly can make the difference for nine families waiting for a phone call.