Transplant and Age

(Original post by Democracy)
I'll assume we're talking about organs such as heart, kidney, pancreas, or the liver rather than a corneal transplant

Speaking in very general terms (since this is a very general question), if you need a transplant of one of those organs that means you must have had siginificant illness and damage to the organ which is being transplanted. You may well have other illnesses as well which affect your overall health.

Transplants aren't carried out lightly and often the patients who end up going for transplants will have been unwell for a long time before they go for the operation. Transplant operations are lengthy and the patient has to be able to tolerate the anaesthetic and likely a stay in the intensive care unit afterwards. At the very least they will need to manage then being on a normal hospital ward and the post-op rehabilitation process with all the possible complications that may result. They also have to be able to tolerate being on immunosuppressants for the rest of their life.

When you put all of this together, as a general rule, it means the older you get your capacity for being able to cope with all of the above stressors (your physiological reserve) decreases so offering a transplant is considered increasingly risky with little benefits. An otherwise well 25 year old will generally tolerate a theoretical transplant more successfully than an 85 year old with several other long term conditions.