Transplant Guides
Understanding organ transplant data: waiting lists, survival rates, and how to use public data to inform your questions.
How to Choose a Transplant Center: What the Data Can Tell You
What published data can and cannot tell you about transplant centers, and how to use it to guide conversations with your care team.
Understanding Organ Transplant Waiting Lists
How the US organ allocation system works, what factors affect wait times, and what UNOS/OPTN data shows.
What Survival Rates Mean for Transplant Patients
How to interpret 1-year and 3-year graft survival statistics and why they require expert context.
Organ Procurement Organizations: How the System Works
The role of OPOs in the organ donation and transplantation process.
Living Donor Transplants: What Patients and Donors Need to Know
How living donor kidney and liver transplants work, outcomes compared to deceased donor, and what potential donors can expect.
Kidney Transplant by the Numbers
What SRTR data reveals about kidney transplant outcomes, wait times, and center performance across the US.
Liver Transplant by the Numbers: MELD Scores, Wait Times, and Outcomes
How MELD-based allocation works, what survival data shows, and how to evaluate liver transplant centers.
How These Guides Are Written
Every guide on PlainTransplant is written against a strict data-first methodology. Statistical claims reference SRTR Program-Specific Reports or OPTN policy documentation. Claims about allocation rules cite the relevant OPTN policy section. We do not offer medical advice, rank centers subjectively, or speculate about individual outcomes.
- Primary source: SRTR Program-Specific Reports (current cohort: November 2025). Each release covers a rolling 2.5-year cohort window.
- Policy source: OPTN published policy library, maintained by HRSA. Allocation policies are organ-specific and revised periodically.
- Numeric values: All rates, counts, and rankings in guides are computed from the same dataset that powers the center, organ, state, and compare pages. When data is insufficient (e.g., suppressed low-volume program), the guide states "data not available" rather than extrapolating.
- Editorial review: Guides are reviewed against the latest SRTR release and updated when methodology changes (e.g., risk-adjustment model updates).
- What we avoid: Medical advice, subjective center recommendations, comparative quality judgments, and any claim not grounded in a cited source.
See full methodology for field-level data documentation.
Data Sources
- Source: SRTR Program-Specific Reports (November 2025 release), Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. srtr.org
- Source: OPTN policy library, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. optn.transplant.hrsa.gov
Every figure on PlainTransplant is rendered directly from SRTR Program-Specific Reports data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.