Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, Vol 12, Issue 11 2251-2257, Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press
J Briggs, A Crombie, J Fabre, E Major, J Thorogood and P Veitch
Background: During the past few years the number of
organ donors in the UK has declined after a slow but steady increase during
the 1980s. Concern about the decline led to a survey by the British
Transplantation Society. The report of this survey highlighted a number of
reasons for the decline and this manuscript presents and discusses the main
items in the report. Methods: Comprehensive
information relating to organ donation was obtained by a combination of
structured interviews during visits to intensive car units (ICUs) and
neurosurgical units, the use of detailed questionnaires sent to all UK
ICUs, and from the register held by the United Kingdom Transplant Support
Service Authority. Results: The information obtained
highlighted a number of reasons for the decline in organ donor numbers and
these are presented and discussed. The pool of potential donors is
shrinking as death rates from road traffic accidents and intracranial
haemorrhage decrease. Also the increasing use of modern imaging techniques
has improved predictive ability in patients with severe brain damage with
the result that more patients whose prognosis is assessed as hopeless are
not treated by ventilation. Inadequacies both in intensive care unit bed
provision and the resourcing of the transplant co-ordinator service were
also though to be important. Conclusion: Eight
recommendations hae been made, covering ICU bed provision, neurosurgical
provision, transplant surgical staffing, the transplant co-ordinator
network, reimbursement to donor units, asystolic donation, live donor
transplantation, and interventional ventilation. Key
words: intensive care; organ donation; organ transplantation;
asystolic donors; interventional ventilation; live donor transplantation
DIALYSIS AND TRANSPLANTATION NEWS
Organ donation in the UK: a survey by a British Transplantation Society working party
Renal Unit, Western Infirmary, Glasgow G11 6NT, UK; Corresponding author
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