Print PageRenal Transplants Reach New Record
Monday February 06, 2012
Last year was a record year for kidney transplants, with a total of 192 undertaken at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital in 2011, an increase of 70 over the previous year.
Underlying this improvement were increases in activity in the living donor programme and in transplants from deceased donors. There were 27 living donor transplants last year and 158 from deceased donors.
The report also shows further improvements in both the immediate and longer term outcomes of transplants. These confirm that the quality of Irish kidney transplants compares favourably to most European countries.
Acute rejection post transplant has fallen from 25% in the period 1991 – 1995 to 11% in the period 2006 – 2010. Over the same periods one year adult cadaveric graft survival has increased from 86% to 96%. Various measures of renal function post transplant have also improved.
One of the factors behind the improvement in outcomes has been a reduction in the time between donor deaths and transplantation, down from 20 hours to 14 hours in a decade. Another factor has been the adoption of keyhole surgery techniques for living donors, helping to significantly reduce their recovery times.
Commenting on the latest results, the hospital’s Director of Transplant, Urology and Nephrology Directorate, Professor Peter Conlon, said the increase in transplants in 2011 had helped to stabilise the waiting time for transplants at 33 months. However, there were still some 500 people currently on the transplant list, he said.
There is, therefore, an urgent need for additional investment in transplantation if the full benefits of kidney transplantation are to be offered to the Irish people,” Professor Conlon said. “It will also be required if we are to prevent further growth in the number of patients with end stage renal failure needing to go onto dialysis. Although we have seen a significant increase in living donor transplant activity, this does not come anywhere near meeting the current demands.”