333.3: Deceased-donor transplantation activities at Baskent University.

Deceased-donor organ transplantation is the preferred treatment modality for patients with end-stage organ failure. Prompt diagnosis of brain death and increasing the donation rate must be the main focus of all transplant centers. Maximizing the potential for organ donation also has ramifications for the national donor pool in that organs and tissues may be shared among transplant units. We initiated the experimental studies of transplantation in the early 1970’s. On November 3, 1975 we performed the first renal transplantation in Turkey. We were able to perform the first deceased-donor kidney transplantation, which was carried out at our center on October 10, 1978, using an organ supplied by the Eurotransplant Foundation. Following our efforts, on June 3,1979 the first transplantation law was enacted by the Turkish government and in the same month, on June 27, we performed the first local deceased-donor kidney transplantation Baskent University is one of the leading transplantation centers in Turkey. This study assesses the contribution that Baskent University Hospital Network is currently making to the national solid organ pool. The National Coordinating Center (NCC) was founded in 2001, and data from the Baskent University transplantation center from January 2001 through May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The number of brain-dead patients in this period was 102 and the number of family consent was 48. For all brain-death cases, the rate of consent for donation was 47%. Of the 164 total grafts collected in this study period, 81.9% were transplanted at this center and 17.1% were offered to the NCC. The rate of heart and liver grafts offered to the NCC was 12.4% and 3.7%, respectively. According to the results, 18.6% of all heart grafts, 2.5% of all liver grafts, and 5.5% of all kidney grafts in Turkey are performed from donors identified by Baskent University centers. The current rate of consent for deceased donation is high compared with other centers. The majority of these grafts were used in our center, but we also contributed to the national donor organ pool. The transplantation activities in our network will hopefully lead to a larger organ pool and shorter waiting lists. From December 1988 to May 2019, 3007 kidney transplants were performed in 4 different centers at Baskent University (2316 living-donor [77%] and 691 deceased donor [23%]), 629 liver transplants performed in 3 centers (430 living-donor [68%] and 199 deceased donor [32%]), 129 heart transplants in 2 centers, and 302 cornea transplants performed in 1 center.