2020 Volume 55 Issue 3 Pages 217-223
This report presents Japanese status of organ procurement from deceased donors for organ transplantation in 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.
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. In 2019 the total number increased again to 125. Only in Japan among developed countries, are the numbers of the deceased donors limited. The lives, which are cured by the organ transplantation around the world, cannot be cured only in Japan.
The organ procurement for transplantation from deceased donors is supported by the efforts of procurement teams.
