Last week a Massachusetts man who was the first person to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant died.

The hospital where he underwent the surgery did not find any indication that his death was linked to the

transplant but his case again put a spotlight on the organ transplant system and

the extraordinary measures being taken to make up for its shortfalls.

Ali Rogan has the latest on what can be done to revamp the nation's organ transplant

process.

Kidneys top the list of the most needed organs in the US.

Nearly 115,000 people are currently waiting for a new organ,

but the shortage crisis is nothing new.

Last year, more than 46,000 organ transplants were performed, but 5,600 people still die each year

waiting for an organ. Barry Friedman is the former executive director of the Advent Health

Transplant Institute,

a hospital specializing in organ donation and transplant.

He's now a part of Gideon East,

an organ transplant consulting firm.

Barry, thank you so much for being here.

What's driving the organ transplant backlog in the U.S?

Currently, our weight lists continue to grow.

And as those weight lists grows, we have to ensure that the organs that we are recovering are

utilized properly. In this country right now, the way we distribute organs across the

country, we try to get it to the right patient at the right time.

So this may mean putting kidneys on commercial airplanes or charter aircraft to get those kidneys

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