Organ Donation Week Symposium was organized at Biruni University Hospital to raise awareness about organ donation. It was stated that the 1-year success rate of organ transplantation in Turkey is over 95 percent.
With the symposium held at Biruni University Hospital, attention was drawn to the importance of organ donation. Making the opening speech of the symposium, Chief Physician Dr. Faculty Member Abdullah Sert said, “Organ donation is a matter that gives hope to people and brings them back to life. In this sense, we know that very serious developments have been made in recent years. As healthcare professionals, our biggest responsibility at this point is to remember these and remind people. It is our duty to increase the rates of organ donation.”
“Since the cadaveric donation rate is low, we perform live transplants”
Biruni University Hospital General Surgery and Organ Transplant Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halil Erbiş stated that unlike the world in general, the rate of organ transplantation from cadaver is very low in Turkey. For this reason, Erbiş said that the rate of live transplantation is high, “We need organ donation very much. In our country, about 35 thousand people are waiting in line for organs. Unfortunately, the number of cadaveric transplants in our country is quite low, around 10 percent. We perform 85 percent, 90 percent transplants from living organisms. When we look at the world in general, we see the opposite. In the world where organ transplants from cadavers reach up to 90 percent, transplants from living organ transplants are performed at around 10 percent.”
“Brain death is irreversible”
“Surgical techniques and transplantation success of surgical physicians in our country are quite high. Despite this, we are very hesitant to donate the organs of our deceased relatives,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erbiş said, ”On the occasion of November 3-9 Organ Donation Week, everyone should be aware of this issue and donate their organs accordingly, bearing in mind that one day they may need an organ themselves. Everyone should discuss in their nuclear family what the need for organs is, what organ donation is and that they may need an organ one day and make a joint decision accordingly. Spouses should make a will to each other to donate their organs in the event of brain death of either of them, God forbid. The exact definition of brain death should be explained to the patient's relatives. We should clearly explain to the patient's relatives that there is no return to life after brain death.”
Stating that the 1-year success rate in organ transplantation in Turkey is over 95 percent and the 5-year rate is over 80-85 percent, Erbiş said, “This is a high success rate and we achieved this even though we transplant organs from living organ. For example, in liver transplantation, we transplant half an organ. If we transplant a whole liver from a cadaver, our success could be even higher.”
“We want patients to have a kidney transplant before they reach the last stage”
Biruni University Hospital Nephrology Specialist Dr. Banu Erkalma Şenateş emphasized the importance of organ transplantation for kidney patients without dialysis. Şenateş said, “Unfortunately, the number of chronic kidney patients is increasing due to the gradual increase in diabetes, obesity and hypertension. We can see this almost like a pandemic. Unfortunately, the awareness of the society in chronic renal failure is significantly lower than the world. For this reason, when patients are late with their treatment, the timely planning of dialysis or kidney transplantation is disrupted. We want patients to receive the most appropriate treatment in terms of both life expectancy and quality of life and to be directed to organ transplantation on time. We want and hope that patients receive preemtive kidney transplantation.”
