Eurotransplant

Did You Know?

• All transplant clinics, tissue-typing laboratories, and hospitals in member countries where organ donations take place are included in the exchange.
• There is a democratic structure wherein each national transplant society selects members of a central advisory committee.

History

In 1967, Dutch researcher Jon J. van Rood established Eurotransplant after showing that matching donor and recipient human leukocyte antigen types boosted transplant success, which required a central organization with a broad patient pool. The network began with twelve hospital transplant centers across three countries sharing their waiting lists to find the best matches for available organs. Within a few years, it grew to 68 centers in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Switzerland later left; Slovenia joined in 1999, Croatia in 2007, and Hungary in 2013. Initially covering only kidney transplants, Eurotransplant later added liver, heart, pancreas, lung, and intestine procedures. By 1999, roughly 70,000 transplants had been coordinated through the network, rising to over 125,000 by 2012. In 2023, 6,815 organs were transplanted, with kidneys making up nearly half.