In Russia last year, over 3,000 organ transplants were performed, setting an absolute record. Which organs are most commonly transplanted? Aif.ru spoke with the Chief Transplantologist of the Ministry of Health, Director of the National Medical Research Center of Transplantology and Artificial Organs named after academician Shumakov, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Gotye.
Since at the current stage of development we cannot do without immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection reactions, when making a decision on the need for transplantation, doctors consider the balance of benefit and risk. Currently, only vital organs – kidneys, heart, liver, and lungs – are being transplanted.
The absolute leader in the number of operations is kidney transplantation.
Out of the three thousand donor organ transplant surgeries performed in Russia in 2023, nearly two-thirds were kidney transplants. The increase in the number of people with kidney pathology is a global trend, fueled by the epidemic of diabetes (which often leads to kidney damage).
The most challenging type of transplantation is heart transplantation. When the first heart transplant surgery is performed in a region, it primarily indicates that cardiac care there has reached the highest level. Today, heart transplantation is carried out in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Volgograd, Samara, Kemerovo, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Ufa, and other cities in our country.
After the COVID pandemic, the need for lung transplantation has increased. The issue here is not just a shortage of donor organs, but the availability of organs suitable for transplantation. Healthy lungs are in short supply nowadays. We had to develop a special technology and a set of devices that allow us to prepare donor organs for transplantation. The technology of perfusion that we have invented (passing a special liquid through the vascular bed before transplantation) is applicable to other organs, especially if it involves long-term storage and transport over long distances.