{"data":{"id":"us/42-cfr-121.2","jurisdiction":"us","citation":"42 CFR 121.2","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in this part—\nAct means the Public Health Service Act, as amended.\nDesignated transplant program means a transplant program that has been found to meet the requirements of § 121.9.\nFamily member means a family member of a transplant candidate, transplant recipient, or organ donor.\nOPTN computer match program means a set of computer-based instructions which compares data on a cadaveric organ donor with data on transplant candidates on the waiting list and ranks the candidates according to OPTN policies to determine the priority for allocating the donor organ(s).\nOrgan means a human kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, intestine (including the esophagus, stomach, small and/or large intestine, or any portion of the gastrointestinal tract) or vascularized composite allograft (defined in this section). Blood vessels recovered from an organ donor during the recovery of such organ(s) are considered part of an organ with which they are procured for purposes of this part if the vessels are intended for use in organ transplantation and labeled “For use in organ transplantation only.”\nOrgan donor means a human being who is the source of an organ for transplantation into another human being.\nOrgan procurement organization or OPO means an entity so designated by the Secretary under section 1138(b) of the Social Security Act.\nOrgan procurement and transplantation network or OPTN means the network established pursuant to section 372 of the Act.\nPotential transplant recipient or potential recipient means a transplant candidate who has been ranked by the OPTN computer match program as the person to whom an organ from a specific cadaveric organ donor is to be offered.\nScientific Registry means the registry of information on transplant recipients established pursuant to section 373 of the Act.\nSecretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services and any official of the Department of Health and Human Services to whom the authority involved has been delegated.\nTransplant candidate means an individual who has been identified as medically suited to benefit from an organ transplant and has been placed on the waiting list by the individual's transplant program.\nTransplant hospital means a hospital in which organ transplants are performed.\nTransplant physician means a physician who provides non-surgical care and treatment to transplant patients before and after transplant.\nTransplant program means a component within a transplant hospital which provides transplantation of a particular type of organ.\nTransplant recipient means a person who has received an organ transplant.\nTransplant surgeon means a physician who provides surgical care and treatment to transplant recipients.\nVascularized composite allograft means a body part:\n(1) That is vascularized and requires blood flow by surgical connection of blood vessels to function after transplantation;\n(2) Containing multiple tissue types;\n(3) Recovered from a human donor as an anatomical/structural unit;\n(4) Transplanted into a human recipient as an anatomical/structural unit;\n(5) Minimally manipulated (i.e., processing that does not alter the original relevant characteristics of the organ relating to the organ's utility for reconstruction, repair, or replacement);\n(6) For homologous use (the replacement or supplementation of a recipient's organ with an organ that performs the same basic function or functions in the recipient as in the donor);\n(7) Not combined with another article such as a device;\n(8) Susceptible to ischemia and, therefore, only stored temporarily and not cryopreserved; and\n(9) Susceptible to allograft rejection, generally requiring immunosuppression that may increase infectious disease risk to the recipient.\nWaiting list means the OPTN computer-based list of transplant candidates.","path":["Title 42—Public Health","CHAPTER I—PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES","SUBCHAPTER K—HEALTH RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT","PART 121—ORGAN PROCUREMENT AND TRANSPLANTATION NETWORK"],"source_url":"https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2026-08-25/title-42.xml","current_through":"2026-08-25","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T02:26:11Z","sha256":"c9aac84dd48df973d0988a26745baf9dbf6baad6f2c6e445429353a22cfb41d3","source_id":"us-cfr","stale":true,"prev":"us/42-cfr-121.1","next":"us/42-cfr-121.3"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}