Current Practices of Organ Donation and Transplantation Among Different French-Speaking Countries and Regions

Abstract

The aim of the "Transplantation Sans Frontières" (TSF) questionnaire, which was sent to French-speaking centers in 6 different countries and regions, was to establish the current status of organ donation and transplantation in their environments. It was also to examine ways to collaborate and exchange scientific information, teaching, and training in the field of organ transplantation. The French Society of Transplantation and the Agency of Biomedicine already offer specific programs to expand local activities, and the World Health Organization (WHO) regulates them. Therefore, TSF could be a coordinating platform in the near future.T o develop scientific collaborations and exchange knowledge in the field of organ donation and transplantation among the "Société Francophone de Transplantation" (SFT), the French Agency of Biomedecine (ABM), with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO), and transplantation centers in French-Speaking regions and countries, the SFT created a common platform called "Transplantation Sans Frontières" (TSF).During the tenth SFT congress in Geneva, the first TSF symposium was organized to update the current practices in organ donation and transplantation among various Frenchspeaking countries or regions. It also sought to increase and coordinate existing fruitful collaborations and scientific exchanges. To prepare for the TSF symposium, a questionnaire was sent to members in various French-speaking countries and regions. The TSF questionnaire assessed current practices, the possible role of SFT or ABM, and the impact of the WHO regulation. METHODSThe TSF questionnaire was divided into 4 parts. The first part was designed to establish the current status of organ donation and transplantation by asking for demographic data, including the number of transplantation centers, the date of the first and the total number of renal transplantations, the proportion of live versus cadaveric donors, the date of the first cadaveric procurement, the date of the first donor after cardiac death (DCD) procurement, the proportion of DCD/donor in brain death (DBD), and the number of extra renal transplantations. The second part concerned the scientific environment by asking about the existence of local transplantation societies, their number of meetings, their ways of teaching and training for transplant physicians and surgeons, their collaborations with other transplantation societies and/or centers, their funding, and their expectations of the SFT. The third part was devoted to the WHO convention by asking for evaluation of transplantation tourism and its causes, the attractive countries and the motivation, the collaboration between states or centers, the existence of live donor registries, compensation for live donation, the possible application of the Iranion system, and the organization of follow-up of patients transplanted abroad. The last part concerned the local support from health authorities and the role that the ABM and/or the Eurotransplant organization could add to their practices. ...