title: Transplant quality in Italy: analysis of the 1995-2000 period.
abstract: Evaluation of outcomes is a major step in quality assessment of any health process. In the transplant field, the evaluation of outcome is extremely important for both patients' growing demand for health and for the joint commitment the transplant process requires. In this study, the outcome of 12,647 transplants, carried out between 1995 and 2000 were analysed. Graft survival at 5 years was 79% for kidney, 67% for liver, 72% for heart and 38% for lung. Patient survival was 92% for kidney, 76% for liver, 72% for heart and 38% for lung. In comparison to other international case records [Collaborative Transplant Study (CTS) and The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)], results are similar or even better for all transplant programmes. As a whole, survival after solid organ transplant in Italy ranks among the best for both donations and transplantation. The quality of transplants carried out is above European standards. Nevertheless, the growing health needs of patients require improvement in both the procurement process and in the use of available organs.
authors.affiliation: Italian National Transplant Centre, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. cnt@iss.it
authors.forename: Sante
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Venettoni
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scalamogna
authors.forename: Emilio S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Curtoni
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adorno
authors.forename: Ignazio R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Marino
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taioli
authors.forename: Bruno C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Ciancio
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rizzato
authors.forename: Alessandro Nanni
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014180:Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016896:Treatment Outcome