2022 figures for organ and tissue removal and transplantation activity and 2023 Barometer on knowledge and perception of organ donation in France

The year 2022 was once again marked by the Covid-19 epidemic in France, but also by the very high number of cases of influenza and bronchiolitis, which sometimes led to severe pressure on hospitals.

The French Biomedicine Agency (Agence de la biomédecine) today published figures for organ procurement and transplantation activity in 2022, announcing a recovery despite the current context.

"The number of transplants achieved in 2022 is encouraging, given the difficult situation faced by certain health establishments in France. The hospital teams have once again demonstrated their unfailing commitment throughout the year. They have once again demonstrated their resilience," emphasizes Professor François Kerbaul, Director of Organ and Tissue Procurement and Transplantation at the Agence de la biomédecine.

The Agence de la biomédecine underlines the strong mobilization of the teams and their ability to adapt, which have enabled a 4% increase in transplant activity compared with 2021: in 2022, 5,494 transplants were carried out for patients on waiting lists.

The pre-Covid crisis level has not yet been reached, but the catch-up is continuing in a context that has not itself returned to the way it was:

"However, the Agency remains cautious: all the efforts made by healthcare professionals, patient associations, hospital administrations, health authorities and learned societies will not enable us to achieve the objectives set by the Transplant Plan and linked to patient expectations, if the hospital situation does not improve," warns Professor Kerbaul.

Organ procurement figures for 2022The number of brain-dead patients registered increased by 6.1% in 2022 compared with 2021 (2,984 brain-dead donors registered in 2022 compared with 2,812 the previous year). In fact, donations from brain-dead patients increased by 4.8% in 2022 compared with 2021, with 1,459 deceased donors harvested from brain-dead patients compared with 1,392 last year.

Maastricht III retrieval activity also enabled 609 patients to be identified in 2022, 235 of whom were retrieved compared with 217 in 2021. Overall, deceased donor retrieval activity increased by 5.0% compared with 2021, with a total of 1,694 donors retrieved.

The overall gross objection rate for brain-dead patients has fallen significantly in 2022 to 33%, compared with 33.7% in 2021, 33% in 2020 and 30.5% in 2019.

The average age of deceased donors harvested in 2022 was 57, slightly younger than in 2021 (57.7). 40.9% of brain-dead patients harvested in 2022 were over 65, compared with 41.7% in 2021.

The waiting list in January 2023 On January 1, 2023, there were 10,810 patients on the active waiting list (i.e. immediately eligible for an organ transplant), all organs combined.

Figures for organ transplants in 20225,494 transplants were carried out (including 533 from living donors) in 2022, compared with 5,276 in 2021, an increase of 4%.

For transplants from living donors, 533 transplants were recorded in 2022 versus 522 in 2021, including 511 kidney transplants from living donors.

| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------| | Heart transplants | 450 | 425 | 370 | 409 | 411 | | Heart-lung transplantspulmonary transplants | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | | Lung transplants | 373 | 384 | 283 | 316 | 334 | | Liver transplants (including living donors) | 1 325 (14)| 1 356 (19)| 1 128 (15)| 1 225 (20)| 1 294 (22)| | Kidney transplants (including living donors) | 3 567 (541)| 3 643 (510)| 2 595 (390)| 3 252 (502)| 3 376 (511)| | Pancreatic transplants | 78 | 84 | 34 | 67 | 70 | Intestinal transplants | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 1 | | | TOTAL (of which living donors) | 5 806 (555)| 5 901 (529)| 4 421 (405)| 5 276 (522)| 5 494 (533)|

The number of deceased donors harvested rose to 6,226 in 2022, compared with 5,899 in 2021, representing a 5.5% increase in activity and a 29.1% increase on 2020. In 2020, 4,821 tissue donors were collected.

Compared with 2021, corneal donation activity rose by 5.0%, artery donation by 1.4%, vein donation by 43.5%, skin donation by 2.6%, heart valve donation by 2% and bone donation by 17.8%.

For the Agence de la biomédecine, these results are very encouraging, despite the health situation that persisted for much of the year.

| Number of deceased tissue donors harvested | 2022 | |------------------------------------------------------------|-----------| | Subjects in a state of encephalic death | 828 | | Donors deceased after cardiac arrest M2 and M3 | 203 | Subjects deceased up to 24 h after death | 5195 | Total number of deceased tissue donors | 6226 |

| Number of deceased donors harvested from | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | Evolution between 2022 and 2019 | Evolution between 2022 and 2021 | Average/month in 2022 |-------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|-----------------------| | Corneas | 5957 | 5674 | 4615 | 6333 | -5.9% | 5.0% | 496 | | Arteries | 358 | 353 | 312 | 395 | -9.4% | 1,4% | 30 | | Veins | 353 | 246 | 152 | 119 | 196.6% | 43.5% | 29 | | Skin | 310 | 302 | 215 | 376 | -17.6% | 2.6% | 26 | Heart valves | 249 | 244 | 254 | 334 | -25.4% | 2.0% | 21 | | Bones | 106 | 90 | 69 | 110 | -3.6% | 17.8% | 9 | |