CHANGING PATTERNS IN ORGAN DONATION IN EUROTRANSPLANT, 1990-1994

Organ transplantation has become the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage organ failure and has led to progressive increases in t he size of waiting lists over the past decade. Unfortunately, from 199 0 to 1994, the number of organ donors remained stable while the number of organs transplanted from these donors increased by only 10 %. In v iew of the severity of the current organ shortage, elderly individuals are increasingly being accepted as organ donors. The graft survival r ate with kidneys from donors older than 55 years is 5 % lower than tha t with kidneys from younger donors at 1 year and 9 % lower at 3 years post-transplantation. Graft survival is also significantly lower with organs from donors who die from cerebrovascular accidents than it is w ith organs from donors whose cause of death is cerebral trauma. The nu mber of patients waiting for a nonrenal donor organ has increased rapi dly in the past 5 years, and-an increasing number of donor kidneys are now being provided by multiorgan donors. The favorable graft survival rate with multiorgan donor kidneys, which is significantly better tha n that obtained with single organ donor kidneys, confirms their suit a bility for renal transplantation.