Changing donor source pattern for kidney transplantation over 40 years: a single-center experience.
OBJECTIVE
Kidney transplantations at our center rely mainly on living donors. The purpose of this study was to suggest future donor supply directions by reviewing changing trends in donor type.


METHODS
During the past 40 years, 1,690 kidney transplantations were performed at our center. We divided the follow-up period into four decades and the donor population into three groups: living related, living unrelated, and deceased. We analyzed changing trends in donors from each group for each decade. Patients receiving overseas transplantation were also included.


RESULTS
The proportion of living related donors decreased from 84% (54/64) in the 1970s to 61% (281/458) in the 2000s. Living unrelated donors showed a sustained proportion of around 20% after 1990. However, among living unrelated donors, the proportion of spouse donors increased from 4.6% (17/369) in the 1980s to 8.5% (39/458) in the 2000s. Transplants from deceased donors were only 3.3% (12/369) in the 1980s. However the proportion of deceased donors increased gradually, reaching 13.2% (105/799) in the 1990s and 19.9% (91/458) after 2000. Overseas transplantations increased after 2000 and reached 20% of all cases treated in our center during the 2000s. Such transplantations peaked in 2006 and decreased markedly thereafter.


CONCLUSIONS
The proportion of each donor type has continuously changed, and the changes were associated with changes in the social structure and system. We expect that this study could be an important reference for other countries to estimate future changes of donor type.
Chung
Byung Ha
BH
Organ Transplantation Center, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jung
Mi Hyang
MH
Bae
Sung Ha
SH
Kang
Suk Hui
SH
Hwang
Hyeon Seok
HS
Hyoung
Bok Jin
BJ
Lee
So Young
SY
Jeon
Youn Ju
YJ
Choi
Bum Soon
BS
Park
Cheol Whee
CW
Kim
Yong-Soo
YS
Kim
Ji-Il
JI
Moon
In Sung
IS
Yang
Chul Woo
CW
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D007723:Korea; D019520:Living Donors / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends