title: Organ donation and transplantation statistics in Belgium for 2012 and 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 2012 and 2013 solid organ transplantation statistics were presented during the annual meeting of the Belgian Transplant Society.
  
  
  METHODS
  All data presented were collected from Eurotransplant International Foundation and/or from all individual Belgian transplant centers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was demonstrated that the highest number of deceased donors detected (1310) from which 47.8% were an effective organ donor that corresponded to 29 per million inhabitants (pmi) in 2012 and 27.4 pmi in 2013. Out of 626 effective deceased organ donors, 491 (79%) were donors after brain death (DBD) and 135 (21%) donors after circulatory death (DCD), respectively. The majority (125/135; 93%) of DCD donors were DCD Maastricht category III donors and there were 7 (5%) donations following euthanasia. Family refusal tended to be lower for DCD (10.4%) compared to DBD donors (13.4%). Despite the increasing DCD donation rate, DBD donation remains stable in Belgium. The donor age is still increasing, reaching a median age of 53 years (range 0-90). Spontaneous intracranial bleeding (39.3%) and cranio-cerebral trauma (25%) remained the most frequent reasons of death. The number of living related kidney transplantations (57 in 2012 and 63 in 2013) followed the international trend albeit in Belgium it is still very limited. Nevertheless this activity could explain that the number of patients waiting for kidney transplantation (770) reached an absolute minimum in 2013. Except the reduced waiting list for lung transplantation (from 119 patients in 2011 to 85 in 2013), the waiting list remained stable for the other organs but almost 200 patients still died while on the waiting list.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Belgium demonstrated the highest number of effective organ donors that corresponded to 29 per million inhabitants (pmi) in 2012 and 27.4 pmi in 2013. Thus far, and in contrast with other countries, there is no erosion of DBD in the DCD donor organ pool, but it is the important responsibility of all transplant centers and donor hospitals to avoid a substitution from DBD by DCD donors.
authors.affiliation: Transplant coordinator, University Hospitals Leuven, Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49 - 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Desschans
authors.affiliation: Belgian Transplant Society President, Intensive Care Unit, CHU Dinant Godinne, UCL Namur, Université Catholique de Louvain, Yvoir, Belgium. Electronic address: patrick.evrard@uclouvain.be.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Evrard
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014850:Waiting Lists; D055815:Young Adult