University of Wisconsin Hospital Perform Record Number of Organ Transplants

Thursday, January 14th, 2021 -- 8:10 AM

(AP) The University of Wisconsin Hospital performed a record 548 organ transplants last year, including 315 kidney transplants, even though the COVID-19 pandemic forced a temporary closure of part of its transplant program.

Mike Anderson, executive director of UW Organ and Tissue Donation, said an increase in deceased donors was a large factor. UW Hospital, one of the nation’s largest transplant centers, had 173 deceased donors this year, up from the previous record of 150 set in 2016.

More people died from drug overdoses, and there was also an uptick in heart attacks, strokes and other events that can cause brain death, likely due to people with chronic diseases who put off medical care because of the pandemic, he said.

The number of transplants surpassed UW Hospital’s previous record of 541 in 2005; the hospital’s previous record for kidney transplants was 313, set in 2016.

The number of living donors went down in 2020. Part of that program was closed in the spring and again in November and December as coronavirus hospitalizations surged, said Dr. Dixon Kaufman, chairman of UW Health’s transplant division.

The hospital also saw a sharp drop in non-directed donors, people who give a kidney to a stranger without having a loved one or friend who needs one in return.

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