February 08, 2023
The removal and transplantation of organs and tissues are among the activities strongly impacted during the health crisis. Today, this activity is on the rise once more, welcomes the Biomedicine Agency.
5,494 transplants performed in 2022, i.e. 4% more than in 2021. As a reminder, at the height of the Covid crisis, transplants had fallen by 25%… The level of transplant activity therefore did not return to its pre-Covid level, but the figures are going in the right direction, indicates the Biomedicine Agency, which publishes its 2022 report at the beginning of February.
And this, in a persistent context of hospital tensions: “the number of transplants reached in 2022 is encouraging, given the difficult situation experienced by certain health establishments in France”comments Prof. François Kerbaul, Director of Organ and Tissue Removal and Transplantation at the Biomedicine Agency.
Which specifies that to date, the conditions are far from being met to achieve the objectives set by the Registry Plan 2022-2026. They include in particular the increase in the number of staff in hospitals, “the intensification of the practice of samples from living donors and the development of pediatric samples”.
Heart, lung, liver…
In detail, in 2022, “samples from brain-dead patients increased by 4.8% compared to 2021, i.e. 1,459 deceased donors sampled from brain-dead patients compared to 1,392 last year”. The donor in brain death, or brain death, “allows 95% of organ transplants in France”, specifies the dedicated service of the Montpellier University Hospital. Organs such as the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys or pancreas, which continue to function artificially for a few hours by the supply of oxygen from the ventilator, can be removed and transplanted to waiting patients.
This is also the case for certain types of fabrics. Compared to 2021, corneal samples increased by 5%, vein samples by 43.5% and bone samples by nearly 18%.
To note : The active waiting list, i.e. the number of patients immediately eligible for an organ transplant, all organs combined, amounted to nearly 11,000 patients on January 1, 2023. Remember that in France, everyone is presumed to have consented to the donation of her organs unless she registers in the national register of refusals.