Abstract
In order to optimize regional utilization of transplantable thoracic organs, the seven university hospitals in North-Rhine-Westfalia have formed a transplant cooperation meanwhile approved by Eurotransplant. Heart transplant and organ donation activities of the cooperating hospitals in the year before the foundation of the cooperation (period A, 7/95 - 6/96) and in the year thereafter (period B, 7/96 - 6/97) were retrospectively analysed. In period A, a total of 39 heart transplants and 74 heart donations were performed, whereas in period B 67 heart transplantations and 78 heart donations could be achieved. The regional utilization of the donor organs increased from 4% to 30% with a significantly shorter ischemia time of regionally or locally allocated donor hearts than of nationally or internationally allocated ones. A high rate of regional or local heart transplant procedures with short ischemia times clearly demonstrate the benefits of a regionalization of heart transplant medicine for medical as well as economical reasons.
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