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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
According to France Info information, around a hundred kidneys taken for transplant do not fulfill their mission and are ultimately destroyed by the Biomedicine Agency. How is this possible? Explanations.
Each year in France, more than 3,000 kidney transplants are carried out, including around 500 from living donors. A feat that continues to save patients, like this cross transplant which took place just a few days ago. But as we learn France Info To date, around a hundred kidneys taken from donors are not used and must therefore be destroyed
Rare “therapeutic hazards”, but to be taken into account
In most cases, this “mess” occurs because of an organ that has deteriorated. It can also be damaged in the block. The Biomedicine Agency, the establishment responsible for samples and transplants, speaks of unfortunate “therapeutic hazards” which have a heavy impact on patients.
Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo, explains this little-known fact to us. “Grafts may be discarded before transplantation for several reasons, mainly related to compatibility, quality, and safety issues.
- A compatibility problem : Generally, tissue compatibility before a transplant is checked, but final tests may in extremis contraindicate the transplant to avoid immediate severe rejection;
- A concern in the quality of the graft : Organs must be in good condition to be transplanted. Some organs can deteriorate quickly after removal, especially if they are not stored properly or if the transport time is too long. New processes allow them to be preserved longer;
- Logistical problems : Sometimes, technical constraints linked to harvesting, transport or the viability of the graft can prevent its use. Strict distribution and allocation rules are applied to ensure that each graft is used optimally.
Finally on France Info, Professor François Kerbaul, director of samples and transplants at the Biomedicine Agency, explains that this can also come from the surgeon. “There remains 10% of cases, around 20 kidney grafts per year, which will be removed and not transplanted for reasons of surgical technical difficulty (…) : “The surgical removal technique induces injury to an artery, to a ureter, which will make this organ unsuitable for secondary transplantation. There were 20 kidney transplants nationally last year, out of 3,525 kidney transplants carried out in 2023” .
“Missed calls” that should be reduced as much as possible
Thus, it is rare (but possible) that a patient awaiting a transplant, having received the life-saving call and already placed on the operating table wakes up… without having undergone the promised transplant. What we call a missed call.
“We have people who have experienced the missed call several times. One of them was one of our volunteers. She died this year after several transplant calls. She felt that it was an injustice done to her ” expresses Bruno Lamothe spokesperson for The Renaloo kidney patients association on France info.
To compensate for this lack which may still occur, the Biomedicine Agency ensures: a debrief systematically takes place after each (rare) incident.to be able to intervene, provide corrective measures and constantly reduce the incidence of these problems. In particular, it offers training to teach surgeons to better master organ harvesting.