More than 5,000 organ transplants were performed in France in 2021, a level significantly lower than the pre-health crisis despite a one-off rebound, the health agency which manages these medical acts announced on Wednesday January 12.
Last year, 5,273 transplants were performed, the vast majority kidney transplants, according to the annual review of the Biomedicine Agency, which depends on the Ministry of Health.
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This is a strong increase - nearly 20% - compared to 2020. But the comparison is distorted by the fact that that year was very disturbed by the outbreak of the Covid crisis. Kidney and pancreas transplants, in particular, had been suspended during the first confinement. "
We do not yet find the pre-crisis level
", explained at a press conference Emmanuelle Cortot-Boucher, director general of the agency. "
We are about 10% below it
," she said.
The trend, with more or less marked variations, is the same for all transplanted organs: kidneys, pancreas, heart, lungs, livers have all recorded a clear increase compared to 2020, but a wider downward trend.
This cannot be explained only by the Covid crisis, which has certainly considerably accelerated the movement by monopolizing operating theaters on several occasions.
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The trend was indeed downward since a peak in transplants observed in 2017 for a number of reasons, ranging from an always high refusal rate to better management of strokes.
This is obviously good news, as Emmanuelle Cortot-Boucher pointed out, but it actually reduces the number of bodies from which samples can be taken.
For the time being, the Agency does not set objectives for the coming years, referring to work "
in progress
" at the ministry in order to set a new plan over several years in the coming weeks.
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