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42 CFR § 121.2 - Definitions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t42/s121.2"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "42 CFR § 121.2 - Definitions."
title_number: 42
title_name: "Public Health"
section_number: "121.2"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "K"
subchapter_name: "HEALTH RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT"
part_number: "121"
part_name: "ORGAN PROCUREMENT AND TRANSPLANTATION NETWORK"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "Sections 215, 371-377, and 377E of the PHS Act (42 U.S.C. 216, 273-274d, 274f-5); sections 1102, 1106, 1138 and 1871 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1302, 1306, 1320b-8, and 1395hh); section 301 of the National Organ Transplant Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 274e); and E.O. 13879, 84 FR 33817."
regulatory_source: "63 FR 16332, Apr. 2, 1998, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "121"
---

# 121.2 Definitions.

As used in this part—

*Act* means the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

*Designated transplant program* means a transplant program that has been found to meet the requirements of § 121.9.

*Family member* means a family member of a transplant candidate, transplant recipient, or organ donor.

*OPTN 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).

*Organ* 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.”

*Organ donor* means a human being who is the source of an organ for transplantation into another human being.

*Organ procurement organization* or *OPO* means an entity so designated by the Secretary under section 1138(b) of the Social Security Act.

*Organ procurement and transplantation network* or *OPTN* means the network established pursuant to section 372 of the Act.

*Potential 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.

*Scientific Registry* means the registry of information on transplant recipients established pursuant to section 373 of the Act.

*Secretary* 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.

*Transplant 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.

*Transplant hospital* means a hospital in which organ transplants are performed.

*Transplant physician* means a physician who provides non-surgical care and treatment to transplant patients before and after transplant.

*Transplant program* means a component within a transplant hospital which provides transplantation of a particular type of organ.

*Transplant recipient* means a person who has received an organ transplant.

*Transplant surgeon* means a physician who provides surgical care and treatment to transplant recipients.

*Vascularized composite allograft* means a body part:

(1) That is vascularized and requires blood flow by surgical connection of blood vessels to function after transplantation;

(2) Containing multiple tissue types;

(3) Recovered from a human donor as an anatomical/structural unit;

(4) Transplanted into a human recipient as an anatomical/structural unit;

(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);

(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);

(7) Not combined with another article such as a device;

(8) Susceptible to ischemia and, therefore, only stored temporarily and not cryopreserved; and

(9) Susceptible to allograft rejection, generally requiring immunosuppression that may increase infectious disease risk to the recipient.

*Waiting list* means the OPTN computer-based list of transplant candidates.

[63 FR 16332, Apr. 2, 1998, as amended at 64 FR 56658, Oct. 20, 1999; 72 FR 10619, Mar. 9, 2007; 72 FR 10925, Mar. 12, 2007; 78 FR 40042, July 3, 2013]