Living donor bowel transplant
A part of the bowel can be removed from a living donor and transplanted into a patient with bowel disease
Key points
- Part of the bowel can be removed from a living donor and then transplanted
- Currently, fewer than 1 in 100 bowel transplants performed in the UK are from living donors
- The majority of living donor bowel transplants are for children
- There is a low risk of the bowel donor dying during bowel surgery
How does living bowel donation work?
Transplant surgeons are able to remove part of the bowel from a living person and transplant it into a patient with severe bowel disease.
Only a small part of the bowel is removed, so this surgery is usually only used when adults donate to children or much smaller adults.
How safe is living bowel donation for donors?
These procedures are not performed very often, but the risk of the donor dying soon after surgery is much less than 1 in 100.
Currently, fewer than 1 in 100 bowel transplants in the UK are from living donors.
Speak to your bowel team about living donor bowel transplantation
You can ask about living donor bowel transplantation in any of the bowel transplant centres across the UK.
Talk about donation
Every year in the UK, thousands of people’s lives are saved or improved thanks to the generosity of living and deceased donors.
Sadly, there are still lots of patients we can’t treat because we don’t have enough organs to transplant. We particularly need organs donated from people who are from an ethnic minority background.
Talking about donation is crucial to raising awareness.
