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Annual Meeting 2024 Lada Zibar

A successful Annual Meeting 2024

Eurotransplant looks back on a successful Annual Meeting which took place from October 10-11, 2024 in Wassenaar, the Netherlands. We had the pleasure of welcoming more than 270 attendees from Eurotransplant member countries as well as guest speakers from France, the United Kingdom, and Canada sharing their best practices and research.  

One of the highlights was the announcement of the winner of the Jon van Rood award. Prof. Dr. Rainer Blasczyk received the award for ‘Invisible Organs – Engineering Allotransplants to Overcome Rejection’. The award was handed out by Prof. Dr. Andreas Zuckermann during the Eurotransplant Annual Meeting. 

We are glad that opportunities to exchange ideas were greatly used and many participants were actively involved in discussing new developments related to organ donation, allocation and transplantation. We thank all chairpersons and speakers for their valuable contribution and the interesting discussions.   

The photo’s are now available on the Annual Meeting site. The presentations of the sessions will be listed as Pdf files on the new member site when it’s launched. 

As soon as the dates and venue of the Annual Meeting 2025 are known, we will publish this information on the Eurotransplant website.

New ETRL Director appointed

Gonca KarahanOn August 15, 2024, Gonca E. Karahan was appointed as the Director of the Eurotransplant Reference Laboratory (ETRL) and she is looking forward to this role, where she can combine her experience in the histocompatibility field with her research expertise. Currently, as a senior scientist, she leads a Dutch Kidney Foundation-funded project investigating the role of HLA-specific memory B cell detection in the immunological risk assessment of highly sensitized kidney transplant patients undergoing desensitization treatments.

Gonca E. Karahan studied biomedical sciences at Istanbul University, Turkey, graduating in 2000. She spent the next 11years at the HLA Laboratory of Istanbul Medical Faculty, where she combined patient-related work with pursuing an MSc in 2003 and a PhD in 2010 in medical biology under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Mahmut Carin and Prof. Dr. Fatma Oguz. Her research during this time focused on anti-HLA antibody detection in sensitized kidney transplant recipients.

In 2012, she moved to the Netherlands to further her research in immunology, joining the Transplantation Immunology Research Laboratory at the Leiden University Medical Center. As a PhD student under supervision of Dr. Sebastiaan Heidt and Prof. Dr. Frans Claas, she developed several methods for HLA-specific memory B cell detection in kidney transplant patients. After earning her PhD in immunology in 2017, she continued as a post-doctoral scientist in the same group, expanding her research to study anti-HLA antibody characteristics and alloreactive immune memory.

Announcement: New Board of Management as of October 1st, 2024

Shared on behalf of the Supervisory Board

New Board of Management as of October 1st, 2024

We are pleased to announce that a new Board of Management will be appointed within Eurotransplant as of October 1st, 2024. This decision follows a careful and extensive selection process.

Throughout this procedure, both the Council of Administration, the Council of Medicine and Science, and the Works Council have been involved. We are delighted to inform you that all councils have provided a positive recommendation regarding the appointment of the new management.

The new Board of Management will consist of the following individuals:

  • Andre Matera as General Director
  • Erwin de Buijzer as Medical Director

We have full confidence in the new executive board, with their experience and vision, to make a valuable contribution to the organization.

Kind regards,

Prof. Dr. D. Van Raemdonck
Chair of the Supervisory Board

Annual Report 2023

Eurotransplant publishes Annual Report 2023

We are pleased to announce the publication of the Eurotransplant Annual Report 2023.

This edition provides key statistics on developments in waiting list, organ donation and transplantation in all Eurotransplant member states. Additionally, it highlights the various activities, decisions, and financial status of Eurotransplant.

For detailed statistics on each organ, please refer to the ‘Collection’ section in the Eurotransplant online statistics library.

The Annual Report 2023 includes clickable links for easy navigation. In addition, we have published the infographic Annual Report Highlights 2023, showcasing the key findings of Eurotransplant in 2023.

Please note that reproduction of any part of this report requires prior permission from Eurotransplant. For permissions or specific image requests, please contact us at: communication@eurotransplant.org.

To ensure the best viewing experience of the Annual Report 2023, we recommend using Acrobat Reader. Eurotransplant offers two versions: a low resolution version for faster download and a high resolution version for better image quality, suitable for printing and enlarging.

Save the date: Annual Meeting 2024

We are pleased to announce the dates of the Annual Meeting 2024: October 10-11, 2024. The meeting will be held at Van der Valk hotel Wassenaar.
Please note that this is not the same location as last year.

Further information will be shared in the coming months. Don’t forget to mark your calendar and save the dates of the Annual Meeting 2024.

Please visit and bookmark the website of the Eurotransplant Annual Meeting for the latest details and information.

Obituary Professor Guy Alexandre (1934-2024)

With sadness we received the message that Professor Guy Alexandre has passed away on February 14 at the age of 89. Guy Alexandre was one of the pioneers of transplantation and closely involved in the foundation of Eurotransplant. After performing innovative studies on experimental transplantation in dogs, Guy Alexandre was from the very beginning a dedicated and active collaborator with Eurotransplant. Already in the first manual of Eurotransplant in 1968 his center, the Clinique Universitaire St. Pierre in Louvain, Belgium, was indicated as BLA (Belgium Louvain Alexandre) and it is still the identification of this transplant center at ET. Prof Alexandre was the first surgeon who introduced the concept of organ transplantation from patients after “coma dépassé”. This was 5 years before the concept of irreversible coma defining death by neurologic criteria (brain-death) was accepted by the Harvard Committee.

Next to his excellent clinical expertise, Guy Alexandre was one of the initiators of ABO incompatible transplants. Already in 1985, he published strategies to perform ABO incompatible renal transplantations showing once more his innovative vision. As a follow up of these studies, he continued research in the field of xenotransplantation after his retirement. The Eurotransplant community would like to thank Professor Alexandre for his continuous support and wishes his family all strength with this great loss.

Preliminary Eurotransplant annual figures 2023 online

LEIDEN (The Netherlands) – Eurotransplant publishes the preliminary annual figures 2023 in the eight Eurotransplant countries. Last year, 6815 organs (2022: 6454) from 2079 deceased donors (2022: 1938) were successfully allocated through Eurotransplant to patients on the waiting list. The year 2023 ended with 13,498 patients (2022: 13,276) active on the waiting list. 

International cooperation  

In 2023, 22.2% (2022: 21.6%) of all allocated organs were exchanged cross-border between the Eurotransplant member states. Thanks to this international exchange, a suitable donor organ could be found for many patients in the different Eurotransplant member states. This specifically applies to patients in special groups such as children, patients with acute organ failure (high urgency patients) as well as patients with a complex medical background (highly immunized patients). Due to the international cooperation within Eurotransplant the chance of receiving a suitable organ in time is higher for these specific patient groups.   

Furthermore, organ exchange between eight countries within Eurotransplant ensures that donor organs that would otherwise remain unused in one country – because there is no suitable recipient for this organ in that country – become available for patients in other countries.   

Statistics per country

Please find detailed tables and charts with key figures on waiting list, donation, and transplantation, specified by organ, by country and by year (including 2023) in the online statistics library (www.eurotransplant.org/statistics/statistics-library/) 

Additional information

Please be aware that slight deviations in the numbers can occur when comparing Eurotransplant figures with figures provided by national organizations in Eurotransplant member states. This may be caused by differences in calculation (e.g., counting double lung transplant as 1 or 2 transplants) and times of registration (counting based on time of donation or time of transplantation). Eurotransplant only reports on utilized donors (deceased donors of which at least one organ was used for transplantation). In every table in the statistics library, the precise method of counting is mentioned.  

Contact details

To find out more about the figures of Eurotransplant, visit www.eurotransplant.org/statistics/statistics-library/.  For (press) questions, please contact us via pressinfo@eurotransplant.org.  

ETAM23

A successful Eurotransplant Annual Meeting 2023

Eurotransplant looks back on a successful Annual Meeting which took place from September 28-29, 2023 in Sassenheim, the Netherlands. We had the pleasure of welcoming more than 280 attendees from Eurotransplant member countries as well as guest speakers from Spain, United States, and Türkiye sharing their best practices and research.  

One of the highlights was the announcement of the winner of the Jon van Rood award. Prof. Dr. Laurens Ceulemans received the award for research on ‘GraTEful (Graft Temperature Evaluation during Lung transplantation)’. The award was handed out by Prof. Dr. Frans Claas during the Eurotransplant Annual Meeting. 

We are glad that opportunities to exchange ideas were greatly used and many participants were actively involved in discussing new developments related to organ donation, allocation and transplantation. We thank all chairpersons and speakers for their valuable contribution and the interesting discussions.   

The PowerPoint presentations of the sessions will be listed as pdf files on the membersite under ‘Organization’, click ‘Annual Meeting’. 

As soon as the dates and venue of the Annual Meeting 2024 are known, we will publish this information on the Eurotransplant website.

signing Hungary-Eurotransplant 10 years ago

Press Release: ‘Hungary celebrates 10 years as a full member of Eurotransplant’

Budapest, June 6, 2023 – Ten years ago, Hungary became a full member of Eurotransplant, the largest European organ exchange organization. During this decade, 924 donor organs were received from abroad to benefit Hungarian patients, accounting for 24% of the total 3,922 domestic organ transplants from deceased donors.

As a result of international organ exchange, the chances of Hungarian patients obtaining organs have significantly improved. Nearly a quarter of Hungarian transplant recipients received kidneys with better immunological compatibility, or as sensitized patients, we were able to find organs specifically suitable for them more quickly. Additionally, there were patients with special urgency, including children, waiting for organs.

After joining Eurotransplant, the number of patients put on the waiting list has increased by 39%, ensuring a greater availability of transplant services and a more accurate distribution of donor organs. Kidney transplants, which were performed in the largest number, demonstrated improved immunological compatibility, leading to longer functioning of transplanted organs and a higher quality of life for patients. This translates to an additional 750 years of life gained over the past decade.

View the full press release: ‘Hungary celebrates 10 years as a full member of Eurotransplant’.

The featuring photo was taken during the official signing 10 years ago. 

Eurotransplant publishes Annual Report 2022

We are pleased to announce the publication of the Eurotransplant Annual Report 2022.

In this edition we present the key statistics on developments in waiting list, organ donation and transplantation in all Eurotransplant member states. Furthermore, an overview is presented of the activities that took place within Eurotransplant, decisions that were made as well as the financial status.

Detailed statistics for each organ are presented in ‘Collections’ in the Eurotransplant online statistics library.

The Annual Report includes clickable (web)links which make it easy to navigate through the document. This report will only be available online and will not be distributed by post. However, a hard-copy infographic, which shows the main highlights of Eurotransplant in 2022, will be published and distributed soon.

Best viewing experience of the digital Annual Report 2022 is guaranteed when using Acrobat Reader. Eurotransplant publishes two versions:

  • Low resolution – minimum download time
  • High resolution – longer download time, but higher quality of images; recommended for printing and/or enlarging

No part of this report may be reproduced without prior permission of Eurotransplant. For permissions or request of specific images, please contact: communication@eurotransplant.org