75 years ago, specifically on June 17, 1950, the first totally transplant was conducted from one person to another, but it only succeeded for several months. Now that medicine has evolved in the field of kidney transplantation, and despite this, Germany has been suffering from a problem in this field for decades.
“I hope you continue to work until the end of my life!” This is what the German Betina Lanje contemplated from her new college, which she obtained from her husband in early 2009, was 52 years old and has been suffering from kidney disease for decades and has been undergoing dialysis for a long time. “I was not in good condition during dialysis,” says Lange.
During dialysis, the blood of most patients from toxins outside the body is purified because their kidneys are not able to work. This procedure was successfully used for the first time in the Netherlands nearly 80 years ago.
In Germany, 100,000 people are currently undergoing this procedure on an ongoing basis, which means that they are usually connected to a dialysis device three times a week for several continuous hours under medical supervision; This is the only way to ensure survival.
However, this treatment is not completely compensated for the kidney function, so the health of the injured gradually deteriorates. The effective solution lies in obtaining a college from a donor. This is the most needed member in Germany.
On June 17, 1950 (75 years ago), the first successful college transplant in the world was performed in a small American hospital in a suburb of Chicago, where the surgeon Richard H Luller planted a member of a deceased in a 44 -year -old patient during a 45 -minute operation.
The process succeeded in the beginning, but the cultivated kidney was removed after ten months due to the body’s rejection of it. Buller did not take this type of surgery again, and later said, “I just wanted to start.”
The first of this kind was performed in Germany in 1963 in West Berlin, where Wilhelm Prosich and Rinenold Najil planted a 21 -year -old woman, but she died a few days after the operation. Six months later, the two doctors who specialize in the urology themselves achieved the first long -term success with a 25 -year -old patient, who received a donation from her mother.
Such transplants have been taking place in the Democratic Republic of Germany (West Germany) since 1966, and until now there have been about 100,000 individuals who have undergone total cultivation in Germany. German law allows a healthy person to donate – whether he is a husband, close, or one of the sympathizers of the patient – his kidney voluntarily.
College compatibility
Lanjeh and her husband prepared the surgery for about a year, as Lanjja underwent treatment to ensure the kidney compatibility with her body standards. “After the operation, you have two people with chronic diseases,” says the lady. The couple is subject to periodic medical examinations.
After the operation, the recipients of donation take strong drugs that discourage the immune system so that the total body does not reject, which increases the risk of infection, which requires them to take care of their diet and avoid foods such as blue cheese and some citrus fruits.
Many healthy donors can resume their lives shortly after the donation process, but this does not exempt them from undergoing periodic checks.
However, most dialysis patients depend on receiving donations for deceased individuals. According to the figures of the German Organ Transplant Foundation, among the 2075 colleges planted in Germany in 2024, only about three thirds of neighborhood donors came, in the remaining 1433 of the deceased donors.
German Gido Lambrcht now lives with a third college that has been planted for him. “The first last for me, and the second five and a half years. I have lived with my third college since 2018,” says 57 -year -old.
Lambrcht was diagnosed with teenage chronic kidney failure, and placed on a dialysis device at the age of twenty -two. “I haven’t seen dialysis as a burden, but rather a necessity. So it is acceptable to me, and I can coexist with him and go ahead,” says Lambasht.
Omar Lambrcht was 24 years old when he underwent the first entire transplant at Berlin Frederscene Hospital. And when it became clear after the operation that his college was working, Lambarsht was immersed “feelings of happiness unparalleled”, where he said, “Yes, this is incredible. I felt the same in 2018.” After his first two collections stopped his work, he had to temporarily return to dialysis.
Preparing to donate in Germany is still limited for decades. According to the data of the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation, 953 people died last year, 2,855 members of their members, including 1391 colleges. The average donor in Germany in Germany is 411 donors per million people, which makes Germany occupy a low rank in organ donation compared to the European Mediterranean. In Portugal, for example, the rate is about three times, and in Spain is higher.
The organs are distributed according to the medical standards in force through the “Euro Transbelt” agency, which includes eight European countries. Germany gets more donations than donations.
Waiting list
According to the German Foundation for Organ Transplantation, approximately 6,400 patients were qualified for kidney transplantation on a new kidney waiting list by the end of 2024. Some doctors estimate the actual need of up to 30,000 people.
The waiting period between the start of dialysis and undergoing kidney transplant surgery. According to a study conducted by the University Hospital in 2024, the waiting period for people between the ages of 18 and 64 years is about seven years.
Priority is given to children with patients who need kidney transplantation of young donors, and their treatment is faster. The same applies to those over the age of 65, as they can obtain members over the age of 65 through the “Elderly Older” program. Given the high death rates between the elderly, the symptom is higher, but the duration of the cultivated kidney efficiency is shorter.
One of the long waiting periods is the continuous severe shortage of donors. According to the current law, organ donation in Germany is not allowed except with explicit approval. Therefore, some politicians and community groups support the application of the objection solution to the donation, which means that every person is considered donated to organs unless he explicitly objects to that.
This rule has been applied for decades in the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany), as well as after reunification of the two parts of the country in East German hospitals, before the national legislation ended its work.