Q. I'm 74 years old. Are my organs too old to donate?

There are no cutoff ages for donating organs. Organs have been successfully transplanted from newborns and people older than 80. It is possible to donate a kidney, heart, liver, lung, pancreas, cornea, skin, bone, bone marrow and intestines.While organs must be used between 6 and 72 hours after removal from a donor's body, tissue such as corneas, skin, heart valves, bone, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage can be preserved for use later.Evaluation of organs is based upon medical standards. Conditions that will absolutely exclude donation are HIV, active cancer and systemic infection.If you are at least 18 years old and want to be an organ donor, follow instructions at:

http://organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm, a federal website where you can download and print an organ-donor card.Most organ and tissue is given after the donor has died. However, some donations are made by living donors. The first successful transplant by a living donor in the United States was of a kidney transferred between identical twin brothers in 1954.More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for organ transplants.The number of people needing a transplant is rising faster than the number of donors. Each day, 18 people die in this country waiting for transplants.The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) maintains the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), a national computer registry that matches donors to waiting recipients.Every transplant hospital in the United States is a UNOS member You have to go to a transplant hospital to get on a waiting list. To find a transplant hospital, use the UNOS directory at

www.unos.org/members/search.asp.The following are corrections of some common misconceptions about transplants:• The doctor treating you in a hospital has no tie-in to transplantation, so you don't have to worry about the doctor giving you inferior care to get your organs for someone else.• Organ donation is not against the beliefs of most religions, including Christianity, Islam and all four branches of Judaism. Visit

http://www.organdonor.gov for more information.• An open-casket funeral is not precluded by organ donation. Donation does not change the appearance of the body. Organs are removed surgically in a routine operation.• Costs for organ removal are paid by the recipient, not the donor.• Organ transplant recipients are selected on the basis of medical urgency and compatibility, not sex or race.Medical schools need complete bodies with all organs and tissue to teach anatomy. Research facilities need bodies to study disease. Donating organs can preclude the use of a body for study. However, some schools and research facilities will allow donors to give an organ for transplantation and then accept the altered body for study.The Times News, Inc., and affiliates do not endorse or recommend any medical products, processes, or services or provide medical advice. The views of the author do not necessarily state or reflect those of the TIMES NEWS. The article content is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.