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Date: Tuesday, January 24, 1995
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Bonnie Aikman, PHS/HRSA  (301) 443-3376

The report, "Transplant Center-Specific Graft and Patient Survival Rates," also shows patient survival after one year for: pancreas transplants at 90.5 percent; heart, 82.4 percent; liver, 76.7 percent; lung, 68.4 and heart-lung, 57 percent. Organ transplants prolong life for those who would otherwise die or require some form of continuous mechanical support.

But despite this success rate -- and some 38,000 individuals on the national waiting list to receive organs -- HHS said there were only 4,800 donors in the country during 1994. This represents only one-third of the estimated potential donors (if all donors were identified and if all families consented to donation).

"We now have clear confirmation that organ transplantation is effective -- it represents a lifeline for thousands of patients," HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said. "Thousands of successful operations were reviewed in this report, including 18,000 in 1993. But transplants depend heavily on one thing -- the gift of life called organ donation. The public needs to be more aware of the success of transplantation and more supportive of organ donation."

The report presents transplant data from Oct. 1, 1987, to Dec. 31, 1991, and is designed to assist patients, their families and physicians when considering transplant options, and to help transplant centers evaluate their outcomes compared to other centers.

This is the second time such national data have been collected. An earlier report covering data from 1987 to 1989 also showed a high transplant success rate, including a 92.9 percent one-year survival rate for kidney transplants.

The nine-volume, 2,700-page report, required by the 1990 amendments to the Public Health Service Act, is the only national documentation of the success of transplant technology on a hospital-by-hospital basis. The report analyzes data on 60,100 transplant procedures performed on 57,457 patients in 640 transplant programs at 261 hospitals.

Philip R. Lee, M.D., assistant secretary for health and director of the Public Health Service, said: "Transplantation is the last hope for those in need of organ donation, and we must work together to increase the number of potential donors in order to save lives. Advances in transplantation technology, as reflected in this report, combined with the willingness of Americans to become organ donors, will save many lives."

Noting that survival rates are improving, HRSA Administrator Ciro V. Sumaya, M.D., urged Americans to do more than carry a donor card. "Each of us should discuss organ donation with our families and be sure they know our wishes regarding organ donation."

Data on survival rates for both the organ (graft survival) and the organ recipient (patient survival) are averaged nationally. Data from each center are compared against this national average, taking into account patient characteristics for each center. These characteristics include the medical diagnosis; the age, sex and race of the patient; the type of donor (living donor or cadaver); the number of transplant procedures performed at each center and advances in transplant technology.

This comparison results in the expected survival rate specific to each transplant center. When patient characteristics are taken into consideration, actual survival rates at most transplant centers are similar to national averages and to each other.

The report was compiled by the United Network for Organ Sharing of Richmond, Va., under contract to the Health Resources and Services Administration, one of eight Public Health Service agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Potential organ donors are evaluated by organ procurement organizations to determine whether legal and medical criteria for organ donation are met. Once this is confirmed, procurement group personnel discuss the option of organ donation with families of potential donors.

Note to Editors: This report consists of nine volumes, two with kidney transplant data and one each with data on heart, liver, pancreas, heart-lung and lung transplants. There is also a volume with an executive summary and another containing a user's guide. For phone numbers and addresses of transplant centers or organ procurement groups, the public may call the United Network for Organ Sharing, 804-330-8500. For information on a maximum of 10 transplant programs or for a copy of the report's executive summary and/or user's guide, the toll-free number is 1-800-243-6667 or 1-800-24-DONOR.