Bad prognoses for organ recipients

German organ recipients have poor prospects in the EU comparison

01/30/2014

In the European comparison, people with a donor organ currently seem to have poor chances for a long-term recovery. This reports the Hamburger Nachrichten magazine „star“ and refers to the statements of the Heidelberg Professor Gerhard Opelz. Thus, after too many transplants after one year problems would occur.

„Collaborative Transplant Study“ collects thousands of records on transplants
As the stern reports, people with transplanted organs in Germany are significantly worse compared to other countries of the European Union. This result goes to the magazine from the so-called „Collaborative Transplant Study“ The world's largest database of long-term organ transplant results led by Professor Gerhard Opelz from the University Hospital Heidelberg. According to the Department of Transplant Immunology at the Institute of Immunology of the University Hospital Heidelberg „With the active support of more than 400 [...] transplant centers in 45 countries, [...] collected more than 500,000 records for kidney, heart, lung, liver, and pancreatic transplants“, what the scientists „invaluable insights into transplantation-related issues“ allowed.

One-year survival rates significantly worse than in European comparison
According to Professor Opelz, however, the results for Germany would be less good, as the organs transplanted in Germany often fail after only a relatively short time: „For each organ - heart, lungs, liver, kidney and pancreas - the one-year survival rates are significantly worse than in the European comparison, "said Opelz to stern.As the medical scientist further explained, two reasons could be assumed for this situation On the one hand, there would generally be too few organs, so that often organs would be transplanted that were not perfect, but at the same time physicians were obliged to do so, in principle for every seriously ill person Donation organ - whereby the sequence here according to the severity of the disease exists.This would the German transplant doctors after Professor Opelz so „in a double dilemma“ stuck, so the star continues.

„Euro Transplant“ confirms strong differences between supply and demand
The problem of insufficient donor organs also comes from the current figures of the foundation „Euro Transplant“ responsible for the allocation of donor organs in Germany as well as in six other European countries (Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia). Thus, at the end of 2013, a total of 10,757 people were on the waiting list for a kidney in these countries, and transplants had declined „Euro Transplant“ but only 2,959. Similar results were found in other organs: for example, 563 hearts were transplanted in 2013 in the seven Member States, but a total of 1250 organs for people with severe cardiac diseases would have been necessary. (No)