2021 Volume 56 Issue 4 Pages 405-412
【Objective】 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation and movement of people are restricted, and organ recovery, including the movement of surgeons, may also be restricted. We conducted a questionnaire survey to improve the system of organ recovery.
【Methods】 A questionnaire survey was conducted as part of a welfare and labor science special research project entitled, “Survey research for organ transplantation from brain dead donors and donors after cardiac death during the pandemic of COVID-19”, and was distributed electronically to 206 transplant centers (heart, n=11; lung, n=10; liver, n=25; kidney, n=130; pancreas, n=18; small intestine, n=12).
【Results】 We received questionnaire responses from 177 of the 206 centers (response rate: 86%). Fifty-four centers (31%) had helped recover organs for other centers. Forty-eight centers (27%) had received help from other centers to recover organs. Nineteen (95%) of the thoracic organ transplant centers were willing to participate in nationwide organ distribution and recovering graft organ by own their staff. Eighty-five (55%) abdominal organ transplantation centers were willing to undertake nationwide organ distribution and recovering graft organ by other centers close to the donor’s hospital.
【Conclusion】 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be necessary to review the organ recovery system in Japan, and the results of this questionnaire are considered helpful for making such changes.
