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National Registry Provides Comprehensive Look at Organ Transplants
ANN ARBOR, Mich. January 7, 2002 - The number of patients still in need of organ transplants was more than three times higher than the number of people receiving life-saving transplants from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001, based on statistics released today by the nationwide Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR).
There were 23,360 organ transplants performed in the United States during the year ending June 30, 2001; as of June 30, 2001, approximately 79,900 were still registered waiting for an organ transplant. An extensive set of statistics based on analysis of transplant and waitlist processes has been released by the SRTR.
These reports draw upon an array of data from 1995 to 2001 for 59 organ procurement organizations and about 1,000 transplant programs operating across the country during that time. Organ procurement organizations are regionally located and are responsible for the recovery of organs. Transplant programs are based at hospitals and medical centers. Medical personnel at these programs evaluate potential recipients, perform the surgical procedures, and care for patients after their transplants.
The SRTR information ranges from characteristics of organ donors and transplant candidates to survival rates for waitlist candidates and transplant recipients. Statistics are presented for comparison of each transplant program with a national average; transplant and survival rate comparisons are adjusted to take into account variables such as high risk donors or recipient factors.
"The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients reports are designed to be a tool for everyone involved in organ transplantation - patients and their families, surgeons, physicians, and researchers," said Philip J. Held, Ph.D., SRTR Project Director.
"Patients are our first concern, and sharing these data will improve patient care by providing more information to all involved in transplant procedures. Health care professionals, patients and their families will be able to use these findings to help ensure better outcomes for transplant recipients," he said.
Dr. Held is president of the University Renal Research and Education Association (URREA), a non-profit health outcomes research organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which works closely with the University of Michigan. URREA manages the SRTR under a three-year contract from the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As part of the 1984 National Organ Transplant Act, Congress called for the creation of the registry to improve awareness and understanding of organ transplant issues.
The full SRTR reports are available online at www.ustransplant.org. Reports are available for each transplant center and organ procurement organization. The SRTR reports cover eight types of organ transplants: heart, heart-lung, lung, kidney, kidney-pancreas, pancreas, liver, and intestine.
The published reports include statistics and analyses on the status of transplantation in the United States through the year ending June 30, 2001. SRTR officials recommend that transplant programs and the public use these analyses as one of several sources of information in evaluating programs. In considering their decision to choose a transplant program, patients should consult their doctor and can also visit the facility and talk with the staff and other patients.
"We update the statistics on our web site every six months in order to provide the most up-to-date information. Dialogue about this information is a great way to get people thinking about how to improve transplantation in this country and encourage organ donation," said Dr. Robert Merion, Clinical Transplant Director of the SRTR and a transplant surgeon at the University of Michigan Health System. "At the same time, we caution patients against using only these statistics to choose among transplant programs or organ procurement organizations, since the process of transplantation is so complex," he said.
Producing these reports and findings is a complex process that begins with gathering data from the front lines of transplantation. Transplant data are collected by each transplant program and organ procurement organization and are submitted to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the contractor for the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The data are then sent to the SRTR, which analyzes and compares them to create the SRTR reports.
For more information on the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, please email mail@ustransplant.org or call 734-665-4108.
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