2019 Volume 54 Issue 2-3 Pages 53-59
This report presents the Japanese status of organ procurement from deceased donors for organ transplantation in 2018. The Act on Organ Transplantation was established in July 1997 and amended in June 2009. After the enforcement of the amended Act on Organ Transplantation in July 2010, the number of brain-dead donors vastly increased. But the total numbers of deceased donors for organ transplantation, which were almost the same in 2010, 2011, and 2012, decreased in 2013 and 2014 and slightly increased in 2015, 2016 and 2017. But in 2018, incredibly, the total number of deceased donors decreased to 95. This fact is the biggest problem in organ transplantation in Japan. The lives, which are saved by the organ transplantation elsewhere the world, cannot be saved in Japan. The organ procurement for transplantation from deceased donors is supported by the efforts of procurement teams.
