Dialysis patients receive a better quality of life through kidney donation

31.05.2022 10:36

Around 100,000 people in Germany are dependent on vital dialysis treatment. According to the German Organ Transplantation Foundation (DSO), more than 6,500 of these patients are hoping for a kidney transplant; The average waiting time is six to eight years. The DSO figures for the first quarter of 2022 indicate a massive decline in organ donation. Organ Donation Day aims to help improve the situation.

In order to survive, patients with chronic kidney disease are dependent on a kidney replacement procedure, i.e. dialysis or a kidney transplant. Those affected decide together with their nephrology specialist which kidney replacement therapy is suitable. For many people, a kidney transplant is the better kidney replacement therapy; it leads to fewer complications and, on average, to a longer life expectancy and increases the overall quality of life. But only for a few people their wish for a kidney transplant as an alternative to lifelong dialysis comes true: the main reason for this is the lack of organs. It is therefore to be expected that the waiting time is likely to continue to increase from the current six to eight years. This is linked to the increasing mortality on the waiting list. In addition to the lack of organs, medical reasons can also speak against a transplant. For example, B. Comorbidities in old age can be an exclusion criterion or even temporarily, for example. B. cancer or infection. Then dialysis is the only life-saving therapy. At KfH, around 10 percent of dialysis patients are currently transplant eligible.

The transplant wish came true for 475 KfH patients

In 2021, the number of kidney transplants carried out after postmortem organ donation or living kidney donation across Germany was 1,992 compared to 1,909 in 2020. Of the patients treated at the KfH, 475 were transplanted in 2021; In 2020 there were just as many. This means that the proportion of KfH patients in kidney transplants carried out nationwide in 2021 is almost 24 percent (see graphic).

Massive drop in organ donation in the first quarter of 2022

After organ donation developed slightly positively last year, the German Organ Transplantation Foundation (DSO) reported a massive slump of 29 percent for the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year: The number of organ donors has increased in the first three months of the current year 176 decreased (comparison period 2021: 249). At the same time, the number of organs removed postmortem in Germany fell by 28 percent to 562 organs compared to the same period last year. A total of 600 organs were transferred to German transplant centers in the first quarter, which were passed on to patients on the waiting lists via Eurotransplant. That is 194 fewer transplants compared to the same period last year, which corresponds to a decrease of 24 percent.

Organ donation day: Decide and document

This year's Organ Donation Day is all the more important: On the first Saturday in June, information and education should motivate as many people as possible to make their own decision about or, in the best case, pro-organ donation and to document it. Those interested can find answers to important questions about organ donation and organ donor cards, among other things www.tagderorganspende.de/information-ueber-organspende.