Current Status of Organ Donation in a University Hospital in İzmir: Identifying Obstacles and Possible Future Solutions

Objective: Although many new interventions including changes in diagnostic policies are performed to increase the rates of diagnosis of brain death (BD) and organ donation in recent years in Turkey, data about the longitudinal effects are limited. The aim of this study was to understand the current status of organ donation in İzmir and to find out whether new regulations have any effect on the diagnosis of BD and organ donation rates. Materials and Methods: All patients diagnosed with BD between January 2001 and December 2016 in a tertiary university hospital were included, and patient data and organ donation status were collected from medical records. Results: There were 303 patients diagnosed with BD during the study period. The most common reason in the pediatric group (n=42) was traumatic brain injury (42.9%) and 12 of these patients (28.6%) became organ donors. In the adult patient group (n=261), the most common reason was intracranial hemorrhage (39.8%) and 97 patients (37.2%) became organ donors. The rate of BD diagnosis increased over the years (from 0.59% to 0.67% after legal regulation), but there was no increase in organ donation rate (39.5 vs 26.5%). The most common cause of ineligibility for donation was refusal by patient’s relatives in both pediatric and adult patients (83.3% and 86.6% respectively). Conclusion: This study shows that although the diagnosis of BD has increased over the years, organ donation rates are still low in İzmir. New strategies aiming to increase awareness and change the perception of organ donation should be planned as soon as possible.