On Wednesday, on the eve of the 57th anniversary of the first successful kidney transplant in Poland, Transplantologist’s Day was celebrated at the Silesian Heart Disease Center. The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the latest achievements in transplantology in various fields, including heart and lung transplants.

“As for the mortality rate after heart transplantation, we have reached a world-class level. For nine months, not a single patient died after heart transplantation operation” – emphasized Dr. Szymon Pawlak from the Department of Cardiac Surgery, Children’s Heart Transplantation and Support of Mechanical Circulation in Children in the Zabrze Center.

A total of 1,580 heart transplants have been performed in Zabrze so far, including 135 in children. The youngest operated patient was six months old, and most often children between the ages of 4 and 7 receive a new heart. In children, the average wait time for a transplant is about 200 days; many require mechanical heart support during this time.

“Attention should be paid to the long-term results of transplants in children, which show that 86% of operated children survive 10 years after a heart transplant. This is a very good result and gives a lot of hope for the next years of the program. ” – said Dr. Pawlak.

The total number of heart transplants last year in Zabrze – 51 – was lower than in previous years. In 2020-21, it was more than 80 transplants per year, in the previous two years – more than 70.

“It is impossible to develop transplantology without understanding and social support. Most important is the ability to harvest organs for transplantation. Yet the most common reason for not harvesting organs is the refusal or opposition of the family. We need to act coherently so that – as a society – we mature to the level of consciousness that we save ourselves, and part of this social +rescue+ is the consent to harvest organs after death” – declared the head of the center in Zabrze, Prof. Piotr Przybyłowski, vice-president of the National Council for Transplantation and provincial consultant in the field of clinical transplantation in the province of Małopolska.

Last year, more than half (50) of the 93 lung transplants in Poland were performed in Zabrze. In the second largest center in Gdańsk, 38 lung transplants were performed. Doctors estimate that around 150-200 people in Poland need such a procedure every year.