Living Donors Boost Transplant Numbers, UK

Main Category: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 23 Nov 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Almost one in three kidney transplants performed in the UK last year relied on the generosity of a living donor.

In total, 1,915 people received a lifesaving kidney transplant in 2005-06, of which 589 (31%) were given their kidney by a relative, partner or friend - the highest proportion ever recorded.

UK Transplant's end-of-year figures also reveal a record 215 kidney transplants from non-heartbeating donors, an increase of 49% on the previous year. Non-heartbeating donors are people who died in hospital but were not on a ventilator.

The rise in living and non-heartbeating donors contributed to a 3% increase in overall transplant numbers and helped compensate for a 4% decline in the number of heartbeating donors.

Overall, 2,795 lives were saved or dramatically enhanced by an organ transplant, compared with 2,724 in 2004-05.

UK Transplant Managing and Transplant Director Chris Rudge said the figures underlined the value of investment in hospital-based programmes to increase opportunities for donation.

"During the last five years UK Transplant has invested more than £14m in living and non-heartbeating donor programmes, as well as other donor initiatives, at hospitals around the UK.

"These are helping to provide the additional doctors and nurses needed to enable more people to donate and the results are very encouraging.

"Since 2001/2002, the number of people to benefit from living kidney transplants has increased by 58%, while the number of non-heartbeating donors has trebled."

Despite the increase in transplant numbers, the need for donated organs continues to exceed those available. By the end of the financial year 6,698 people were actively registered for a transplant, an increase of 9% on the previous year. The majority of patients (5,773) needed a kidney.

Mr Rudge added: "Transplants save thousands of lives every year and survival rates post-transplant continue to improve.

"However there remains a desperate shortage of donated organs. Death rates are falling due to improved road safety and better medical treatments, while at the same time four in ten bereaved families refuse consent for donation, mainly because they didn't know what their relative would have wanted.

"We could save so many more lives if more people discussed their wishes for donation with their families and added their names to the NHS Organ Donor Register."

In support, Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: "We are all anxious to see organ donation and transplant rates increase, matching the levels we have seen in some other European countries. I am therefore delighted to see the significant rise in living and non-heartbeating donors.

"From September 2006 the Human Tissue Authority has considered cases of altruistic living organ donation, as well as paired and pooled donation, which will enable more people to benefit from a transplant. But it is vital that we identify barriers to donation, which is why I have established an Organ Donation Taskforce to recommend action for increasing donation rates still further."

Additionally during 2005-06:

-- more than a million extra people pledged to pass on the gift of life by joining the NHS Organ Donor Register;
-- 638 people became heartbeating donors; a decrease of 4% compared with 2004-05;
-- 126 people became non-heartbeating donors, an increase of 45%;
-- 598 people became living donors, an increase of 23%;
-- 130 people received a pancreas transplant, an increase of 51%;
-- 1,915 people received a kidney transplant, an increase of 7%;
-- 264 people received a cardiothoracic (heart and/or lung) transplant, a decrease of 9%;
-- 610 received a liver transplant, a decrease of 7%;
-- 2,502 people had their sight restored by a cornea transplant, an increase of 5%;
-- five-year survival rates for adult deceased kidney, heart, lung and liver transplants continued to improve, with 75%, 70%, 51% and 67% respectively of organs still functioning well five years after transplantation.

You can find out more about organ donation and join the NHS Organ Donor Register by telephoning 0845 60 60 400, visiting www.uktransplant.org.uk or collecting a leaflet from your GP's surgery.

-- Living kidney transplants are highly successful, with 94% of transplanted organs functioning well after the critical first year. For recipients, benefits include the potential for a good tissue match between blood relatives, as well as the opportunity to plan the transplant operation for a time that is convenient for recipient and donor. For some people this means the transplant can be performed before dialysis is needed. Risks to donors are minimal; a healthy person can live a normal life with one kidney and long-term studies have concluded that there does not appear to be any risk of serious problems from donating a kidney. Parents and siblings currently make up the majority of living kidney donors (67%). 60% are in the 35-54 age group and 52% are female (2005-06 figures). UK Transplant currently funds 25 living kidney donor programmes at hospitals in the UK.

-- Most deceased donors are 'heartbeating', meaning that they died in hospital while being maintained on a ventilator. This is a machine that breathes for the patient and can artificially maintain blood circulation after death, helping prolong organs' viability for transplant. Non-heartbeating donors are patients who died in hospital but had not required a ventilator. Without artificial blood circulation their heart and some other organs deteriorate too rapidly to permit transplantation, but kidneys, livers and lungs can still be donated as they will tolerate longer periods without oxygen. UK Transplant is investing in 13 hospital programmes to provide the skills and resources needed to facilitate this type of donation.

-- The Human Tissue Act 2004 became law in September 2006, introducing new forms of living donation such as non-directed 'altruistic' donation (allowing an individual to donate a kidney to a stranger via the national matching and allocation system) and paired/pooled donation (in which an incompatible donor/recipient couple is anonymously paired with other couples in the same situation in order to permit the exchange of suitably matched organs between couples).

-- UK Transplant is the NHS organisation responsible for matching and allocating donated organs. It is part of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), a Special Health Authority within the NHS that manages the National Blood Service, Bio Products Laboratory, and UK Transplant. NHSBT is responsible for optimising the supply of blood, organs, plasma and tissues and raising the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of blood and transplant services.

www.uktransplant.org.uk

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