More donations of heart valves and blood vessels help patients
More than 3,000 people said “yes” to tissue donation in 2019. The donation and procurement of cardiovascular tissues has experienced a considerable increase. A donation program initiated in 2018 for heart valves and blood vessels after cardiovascular death is thus showing its first successes and is supplementing the donation of cardiovascular tissues as part of organ donations.
3,007 people or their next-of-kin have agreed to donate tissue in 2019. Finally, 2,764 tissue donations were realized in the nation-wide network of the non-profit German Society for Tissue Transplantation (DGFG); this corresponds to an increase of 1.2 percent compared to the previous year. “We are very grateful that hospitals are increasingly making tissue donation and thus the care of patients possible. This is very important, because this support is not a matter of course”, says Martin Börgel, Managing Director of the DGFG.
Annual Report 2019
Download an executive summary of our 2019 Annual Report. The full Annual Report 2019 is available here (German only).
nationwide allocated tissue transplants in 2019
Nationwide, the DGFG procured 5,827 tissue transplants for transplantation. Every single transplant means the chance for a new beginning for patients: corneal transplants can give clear vision, heart valves can restore performance and vascular transplants can prevent amputations.