Overview of the Belgian Donor and Transplant Statistics 2006: Results of Consecutive Yearly Data Follow-up by the Belgian Section of Transplant Coordinators

Background. The Belgian Section of Transplant Coordinators, created in 1997 under the
auspices of the Belgian Transplant Society, is in charge of the collection of the national
data about donor/procurement activities.
Methods. Data are collected in all Belgian transplant centers. An annual report is
finalized by combining these data with data from the Eurotransplant database.
Results. An increase of both potential donors (n 501, 14.4%) and effective donors
(n 273, 16.7%) was observed in 2006 versus 2005. Among effective donors, 28 were
non–heart-beating donors (10.25%). Overall donor ratio was 26.26 donors per million
inhabitants. Within potential donors, absence of organ harvesting was due to medical
contraindications (28%), family refusal (13%), or legal refusal (2%). Donor mean age was
46.4 years and mean organs/donor was 3.21 1.7. An overall reduction of Belgian waiting
lists was observed in 2006 as compared with 2005 ( 5.7% for kidney, 25.7% for liver,
9.4% for heart, 6.7% for lung, and 11.7% for pancreas), while waiting list mortality
was 18% for liver, 11% for heart, and 7% for lung. As compared with 2005, transplant activities
increased for kidney (n 485, 24.3%), heart lungs (n 73, 7.3%), and lungs (n 83,
39.4%) but decreased for liver (n 236, 2.1%). Living donation represented 8.45% for
kidney ( 28.1% vs 2005) and 8% for liver transplantation ( 29.6%).
Conclusion. Globally, a marked increase of procurement and transplant activities was
observed in 2006, allowing to limit waiting list and waiting list mortality. Further increase
of living donor activity and non–heart-beating donation remains necessary to extend the
donor pool.