Neu-Isenburg – Of the approximately 8,800 people on the waiting list for an organ donation, around 6,700 dialysis patients are waiting for a kidney transplant; for them, the waiting time is more than 9 years on average. The declining figures for organ donation in Germany in 2022, published by the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation (DSO), Frankfurt, make it clear that only a few people can have a kidney transplant as an alternative to lifelong dialysis. Professor Dr. medical Dieter Bach, Chairman of the KfH Board of Trustees for Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation e. V., Neu-Isenburg, that of the approximately 18,000 KfH patients in 2022, a total of 509 had a new kidney transplanted.
Collapse of organ donation numbers in the first quarter of 2022, followed by stabilization and standstill. The year 2022 is characterized by the effects of the pandemic and the lack of staff in hospitals and, as a result, a lack of an increase in the number of organ donations. This is how the DSO explains the decline in organ donation in its press release.
Dramatic situation for all people on the waiting list for an organ donation
“The lack of organs in Germany is blatant,” regrets KfH CEO Bach. Because of the long waiting time, about four percent of the patients on the waiting list die every year and about two percent have to be deregistered from the waiting list because of increasing concomitant diseases. The nationwide day of organ donation on June 3rd is all the more important so that as many people as possible are motivated by information and education to make their own decision, ideally in favor of organ donation, and to document it. “It can save lives,” emphasizes Bach. “For our patients with chronic kidney disease, there is not only transplantation, but also dialysis therapy, which enables us to survive without transplantation or until then,” explains the doctor. Although kidney transplantation is generally the better form of renal replacement therapy, as it leads to fewer secondary diseases and, on average, gives more years of life and quality of life, patients can also lead a largely normal life with dialysis. “Dialysis at home in particular offers many advantages for patients, such as more flexibility in terms of time for individual organization of everyday life, often the retention of work and thus contributes to a better quality of life overall,” emphasizes Bach.
509 KfH patients received a new kidney in 2022
In 2021, the number of kidney transplants performed after postmortem organ donation and living kidney donation was 1,992 in Germany, and in 2022 it would be 1,966. Despite this decline, the number of patients treated at the KfH who received a new kidney rose from 475 in 2021 to 509 in 2022; the proportion of KfH patients in the nationwide kidney transplants in 2022 is therefore almost 26 percent (see link to the graphic). In the KfH centers, the nephrologists take care of all the necessary steps for registration on the waiting list if a transplant is medically possible and desired. The transplantation preparation and follow-up care of the patients is part of the fixed offer in the KfH consultation hours nationwide.
The non-profit KfH board of trustees for dialysis and kidney transplantation eV stands for high-quality and integrative nephrological care for patients with kidney disease. It was founded in 1969, making it the oldest and largest dialysis provider in Germany. More than 18,000 dialysis patients and currently around 74,000 outpatients receive comprehensive treatment in more than 200 KfH centres.