The In-Hospital Departments Dedicated to Expanding the Organ Donation and Organ Procurement in China, Have Increased Significantly the Number of Donors and Transplants

Abstract

Introduction The number of the deceased organ donors after citizen´s death in China has been increasing during the last years reaching in 2016 a donation rate of 2.98 donors per million per population (pmp) (a total number of 4080 donors).The 303 Hospital of Chinese People´s Liberation Army started the donation activity in 2007 and in 2016 created an autonomic hospital department (ODAC) dedicated to organ donation and organ procurement based on the Spanish model of organ donation and transplantation. The main characteristic of this model is the identification of all the potential patients that may develop to brain death. Objective To evaluate the impact of the creation of ODAC in the organ donation and procurement activity in the No.303 Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army. Material and Methods Data about kidney donation and transplantation at the No.303 Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army and Chinese Scientific Registry of Kidney Transplantation from December 2007 to December 2016 were collected. ODAC of the No.303 Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army oversees the donation in 25 hospitals that cover a population of 15 million inhabitants. Results From 2007 till 2015 (a nine years’ period) the number of the deceased organ donation after citizen's death obtained from the No.303 Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army was 265 donors with an average of 29 donors per year (1.9 pmp). In 2016 after the creation of the ODAC that applies the Spanish model on donation and transplantation the number of donors increased up to 125 (8.3 pmp). These results ranked the region among the five top Chinese regions in terms of donation activities. The donors have an average age of 41 years. From these donors, 248 kidneys and 93 livers were transplanted. The incidence of acute kidney rejection was 13.7 %, of respiratory infection was 6 % and the graft survival at one year was 98.7 %. Conclusion the creation of the hospital department dedicated to the Organ donation and Organ procurement, following the international models on donation and transplantation and adapted to the regional characteristics facilitate the significant increase in the donation and transplantation rates with excellent survival of the kidney and liver graft.