IKEM sets record in kidney transplants from live donors

Prague, Oct 21 (CTK) - The Prague Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) doctors have performed 36 kidney transplants from live donors this year, which is the biggest number since 1966 when the programme started in the Czech Republic, IKEM spokeswoman Marketa Senkyrova told CTK Sunday.

IKEM doctors have transplanted "new" kidneys to 186 patients this year.

Another six Czech hospitals perform kidney transplants. They have carried out 144 operations by the end of September this year, including 15 from live donors, according to the statistics of the Coordination Transplants Centre.

"Kidney transplants from live donors show markedly better results than transplants from dead donors," Jiri Fronek, head of the IKEM transplant surgery clinic, said.

He said kidneys from live donors serve the recipient even more than 20 years while kidneys from dead donors eight to ten years.

In spite of this, kidney transplants from live donors are performed only in about ten percent of patients, compared with almost 50 percent in Britain and the Netherlands.