By SudOuest.fr with AFP
According to an official, “we are about 10% below” the number of transplants that were performed before the start of the coronavirus epidemic
Over 5,000 organ transplants were carried out in France in 2021, a level significantly lower than before the health crisis despite a one-off rebound, the health agency which manages these medical acts announced on Wednesday. Last year, 5,273 transplants were performed, the vast majority kidney transplants, according to the annual report of Biomedicine Agency, which depends on the Ministry of Health.
This is a sharp increase – almost 20% – compared to 2020. But the comparison is skewed by the fact that that year had been very disturbed by the outbreak of the Covid crisis. Kidney and pancreatic transplants, in particular, had been suspended during the first confinement. “We do not yet find the pre-crisis level”, explained at a press conference Emmanuelle Cortot-Boucher, director general of the agency. “We are about 10% below it,” she said.
The Covid is not the only cause
The trend, with more or less marked variations, is the same for all transplanted organs: kidneys, pancreas, heart, lungs, livers have all recorded a clear increase compared to 2020, but a wider downward trend. This cannot be explained only by the Covid crisis, which has certainly considerably accelerated the movement by monopolizing operating theaters on several occasions.
The trend was in fact downward since a peak in transplants observed in 2017 for a number of reasons, ranging from a still high refusal rate to better management of strokes. This is obviously good news, as Emmanuelle Cortot-Boucher pointed out, but it actually decreases the number of bodies from which samples can be taken. For the time being, the Agency does not set objectives for the coming years, referring to work “in progress” at the ministry in order to set a new plan over several years in the coming weeks.