Organ Donation and Transplantation in the UK - The Last Decade
There have been major advances in solid organ donation and transplantation over the last decade including better outcomes for patients, according to a new report from the UK National Transplant Registry.
The report 'Organ Donation and Transplantation in the UK - The Last Decade', published as a supplement in the journal Transplantation[1] in January, takes an in-depth look at the UK figures over the last 10 years.
The authors of the report reviewed the outcomes of solid organ transplants and found an increase in the number of transplanted organ grafts functioning well for five years or longer. This was reflected in organs donated from both donors who died after circulatory death (DCD) and donors who died after brain death (DBD).
Looking at adults who had their operation between 2003 and 2005, the five year graft survival rate was 84% for DBD kidneys, 87% for DCD kidneys, 77% for DBD livers, 68% for DCD liver, 67% for heart DBD and 52% for DBD lungs.
The ten year review, compiled by NHS Blood and Transplant's Rachel Johnson, Lisa Bradbury, Kate Martin and James Neuberger on behalf of the UK Transplant Registry, stated:
"Developments in organ preservation and retrieval, in surgical and anaesthetic management and postoperative care, immunosuppressant, and tolerance have all contributed not only to better outcomes but to making transplantation more accessible as surgeons accept older and higher risk recipients and as more contraindications (such as infection with hepatitis B virus or HIB) have been removed."
The authors also noted that, "despite a recent fall in the number of patients on the transplant waiting list, there remains a significant gap between the need for transplantation and the number of organs available from deceased and living donors".
Other key areas highlighted in the report included:
- The number of deceased organ donors has increased predominantly as a result of an increase in donors after circulatory death
- The donor population has become older and heavier
- The average number of organs retrieved from individual donors has increased
- More emphasis is needed to increase the family consent rate for organ donation
[1] http://journals.lww.com/transplantjournal/pages/default.aspx
