History of organ transplantations in Korea

 

 

Total number of organ transplantation surgeries done in Korea (’05-’16): 36 892

19 730 organ transplantations from the living donor

15 103 organ transplantations from the brain death donor

 

 

Strict ethical evaluation process

 

One of the most important things in living donor transplantation beyond ensuring the safety of the donor is securing the integrity of the donor.

 

To prevent illegal organ trade, Korea is requiring compliance with a strict approval process pursuant to the Act on Organ Transplantation.

• Any living donor must have a relationship with the patient of at least first cousin or closer
• When a third party organ donation refers to the donation of organ, the transplantation surgery is approved only when objective documentary evidence proving that the organ donation is not intended for monetary trade purposes is submitted to and accepted through assessment by KNOS (Korean Network for Organ Sharing)

 

One-year survival rates after transplantation (2014)

 

	Liver	Kidney	Heart	Pancreas
KNOS (Korean Network for Organ Sharing)	78%	96%	86%	95%
UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing)	86%	96%	87%	94%

 

                                                                                                                                    Source: KONOS, UNOS, 2017