Korean J Transplant.  2019 Dec;33(4):83-97. 10.4285/jkstn.2019.33.4.83.

Organ donation in Korea in 2018 and an introduction of the Korea national organ donation system

Affiliations
  • 1Korea Organ Donation Agency, Seoul, Korea. wh51cho@gmail.com

Abstract

A total of 1,503 solid organs were procured from 449 deceased donors in 2018. Although the number of donors was down by 12.8% from the previous year (8.7 per million population), the number of organs procured per donor increased from 3.29 in 2017 to 3.35 in 2018. While the causes of brain death by cerebrovascular diseases and head trauma from traffic accidents have declined, brain damage from hypoxia has increased slightly. The most prominent change in the decline of organ donations was a decrease in family consent (36.5% in 2018 vs. 42.9% in 2017). The disagreement over organ donations by other family members even extended beyond the next of kin, and the restriction of organ donations in connection with the suspension of end-of-life care partly affected the consent rate, making this a controversial social issue. An accurate analysis regarding the factors causing the decline of familial consent rates is required, and related organizations along with the government should make a unified concerted effort to resolve this issue. To help achieve this goal, this manuscript describes the transplantation process and briefly explains the Korean domestic organ donation system.

Keyword

Brain death; Organ donation; Organ procurement organization; End of life care

MeSH Terms

Accidents, Traffic
Anoxia
Brain
Brain Death
Cerebrovascular Disorders
Craniocerebral Trauma
Humans
Korea*
Terminal Care
Tissue and Organ Procurement*
Tissue Donors

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Potential brain death (PBD) management cascade in 2018. KODA, Korea Organ Donation Agency.

  • Fig. 2 Relationship of suspended end-of-life care and organ donations after circulatory death. Pt, patient.

  • Fig. 3 Flowchart of potential brain death until organ procurement. PBD, potential brain death; OPC, organ procurement coordinator; KODA, Korea Organ Donation Agency; KONOS, Korean Network for Organ Sharing.

  • Fig. 4 Cash flow after donor management. HLA, human leukocyte antigen; KODA, Korea Organ Donation Agency.


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