7002 transplants were carried out from 1983 to the end of last year in the Independent Public Clinical Hospital. A. Mielęcki of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. It is a leading center in Poland in the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation as well as kidney, liver and pancreas. Among this year’s achievements, doctors from the hospital at ul. French is i.a. kidney transplant from an 81-year-old donor – one of the oldest in Poland.
- The first organ transplant at the Hospital of A. Mielęcki in Katowice was carried out on March 31, 1983. The patient was then transplanted with a kidney from an unrelated donor
- Since then, more than 2300 kidney transplants have been carried out in the facility in Katowice. In 2018, 126 such procedures were performed, which puts the hospital in Katowice in the first place in the country in terms of the number of kidney transplants performed
- As it was reported during the Friday press conference in Katowice, a week ago two patients, 65 and 67 years old, were transplanted with kidneys taken from an 81-year-old deceased donor.
«This was preceded by detailed research in collaboration with pathologists. We had to check that these kidneys were functioning properly. On the sixth day after the procedure, patients feel well, their results improve »- said Dr. hab. Robert Król from the department of general, vascular and transplant surgery. «She may be the oldest, and certainly one of the oldest kidney donors in Poland. At one time, an age of 70 would have been a barrier to retrieval, now we have extended these criteria »- he added.
Only two kidneys transplanted in Katowice last year came from living donors. This is less than 2017, when there were 6 and 2016 – 7. The unfavorable trend was not improved by the introduction of the French as the standard of laparoscopic kidney donation from a living donor, thanks to which the scar after organ donation is smaller. «A small number of transplants from living donors is a nationwide problem, and many patients may prefer to wait for a kidney from a deceased donor, rather than involve someone from their family. However, it should be remembered that dialysis is not such a good method of treatment and does not restore the full quality of life as kidney transplantation surgery »- emphasized Prof. Andrzej Więcek.
The hospital is also a key center for hematopoietic cell transplantation in Poland. The first bone marrow transplant (autotransplantation) was performed in the center in Katowice on April 26, 1991. In 1997, the first transplant in Poland from an unrelated donor was performed. Currently, the Department of Hematology and Transplantation of the Bone Marrow of the Hospital. A. Mielęcki is a place where about 300 bone marrow transplants are performed annually, both autologous and allogeneic. It is the largest hematopoietic cell transplantation center in Poland.
«It has been a good year for our Hematology and Transplant Department. 303 transplants, by 10 percent more compared to 2017 and approx. 30% increase compared to 2015. The number of allotransplantations, i.e. from unrelated or family donors, is 105 people “- said Prof. Grzegorz Helbig.
The haploidentical transplant program is also developing in the hospital. “THIS is the solution when a transplant is required quickly and a matching unrelated donor cannot be found. Then the donor for the sick person can be a son, daughter, mother, father, even a cousin. So far, we have carried out 12 such procedures and our observation shows that it is a very safe procedure and gives comparable results. Haploidentical transplants are the future, we will be heading in this direction »- added prof. Helbig.
Hospital of A. Mielęcki is also a leading institution in the country in terms of the number of total kidney and pancreas transplants. For 15 years, nearly 100 such procedures have been carried out here. In turn, the number of liver transplants since 2005 has amounted to 358, which places the Katowice facility among the 4 most important national liver transplant centers.
“All these achievements would not be possible without the commitment and competence of medical teams. The role of medical personnel is important at every level – from academic staff, through medical and nursing teams, extremely important positions of transplant coordinators, to other medical personnel. The hospital’s success depends on the commitment of the entire staff »- emphasized the director of the Hospital. A. Mielęcki in Katowice, Dr. Włodzimierz Dziubdziela.
“I had two kidney transplants, 20 years of donated life, thanks to the advancement of medicine and the hard work of these doctors. I will probably not be immodest if I say that many people are happy that we are alive – our relatives, those who benefit from our experience, vocation and work, ”said Father Tomasz Tlałka on behalf of patients after transplantation.
The Friday meeting was organized on the occasion of the National Transplantation Day, which is celebrated on January 26, on the anniversary of the first successful kidney transplant in Poland, which was carried out in 1966 in Warsaw. It was then 621 such surgery in the world, the first took place in 1954. Celebrations of the Day of Transplantation serve to promote the idea of transplantology, including increasing public knowledge about the possibility of donating organs after death.