Abstract
PurposeWe investigated the status of deceased organ donation and transplantation through a questionnaire distributed to transplant centers in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe questionnaire was distributed electronically to 206 transplant centers for heart (n = 11), lung (n = 10), liver (n = 25), kidney (n = 130), pancreas (n = 18), and small intestine (n = 12) transplantation. Organ donations and organ transplantation data were extracted from the Japan Organ Transplant Network website.ResultsWe received questionnaire responses from 177 centers (response rate, 86%). In 2020, the number of brain-dead donors (BDDs) decreased to 68 (69% of the year-on-year average) and the number of donors after cardiac death (DCDs) decreased to 9 (32% of the year-on-year average). Eighty-five (48%) transplant centers (heart, n = 0; lung, n = 0; liver, n = 4; kidney, n = 78; pancreas, n = 22; and small intestine, n = 0) suspended transplant surgeries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the number of organ transplantations from deceased donors was significantly lower in 2020 than in 2019.ConclusionAlthough the COVID-19 pandemic has had less impact in Japan than in other countries, it has affected transplantation activity significantly, suspending transplantation surgeries in 48% of the transplantation centers, including 78% of the kidney transplantation centers, and reducing the number of organ donations to 61% of the year-on-year average.
Highlights
In the first 10 years after the establishment of the Brain Death Organ Transplant Act in 1997, the annual number of brain-dead donors (BDDs) in Japan was less than 10
We investigated the status of deceased organ donation and organ transplantation in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a questionnaire that was distributed to transplant centers, to clarify the current status of transplantation activity in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic
In early 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Japan, and in 2020, the number of BDDs and DCDs decreased to 68 and 9, respectively
Summary
In the first 10 years after the establishment of the Brain Death Organ Transplant Act in 1997, the annual number of brain-dead donors (BDDs) in Japan was less than 10. The law was enforced in 2010, resulting in increased numbers of organ donations from BDDs [1]. This had a positive impact on patients awaiting solid organ transplantation (SOT) for organ failure [2,3,4,5,6]. While the numbers of patients with COVID-19 and related deaths in Japan have been relatively
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