Seoul St. Mary's Hospital Achieves 400 Cases of 'Blood Type Incompatible' Kidney Transplants

The Kidney Transplantation Team at the Organ Transplantation Center of Catholic University Seoul St. Mary's Hospital announced on the 6th that they have achieved 400 cases of ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation.

The patient who successfully received the 400th blood type-incompatible kidney transplant and the medical staff of the Organ Transplant Center are taking a commemorative photo.
[Photo by Seoul St. Mary's Hospital]

Since the Organ Transplantation Center at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital first succeeded in ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation in May 2009, it took six years to reach the first 100 cases. However, thanks to the increase in ABO-incompatible kidney transplants thereafter, they reached 200 cases in 2018, 300 cases in 2021, and at the end of last month, successfully transplanted a kidney from a husband (blood type B) to his 67-year-old wife (blood type A) suffering from end-stage renal disease, achieving 400 cases in 13 years and 10 months.

Analysis of the 400 ABO-incompatible kidney transplants showed that the proportion of ABO-incompatible transplants among all living donor transplants was about 10% in the first year, gradually increasing to 45% as of last year. The most common donor-recipient relationship was spousal transplantation, with ABO-incompatible spousal transplants accounting for about one in every two of the 400 ABO-incompatible kidney transplants.

The scope of ABO-incompatible transplantation has expanded to include elderly patients and highly sensitized multi-organ transplants. The oldest patient was 73 years old, and the proportion of elderly patients aged 65 or older was 6% (23 cases). There were 48 cases of ABO-incompatible retransplantation, 4 cases of third transplants, and 64 cases (16%) of high-risk patients with both high sensitization and ABO incompatibility. There were also 3 cases of ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation performed in patients who received simultaneous kidney and liver transplants.

The graft survival rate, meaning the rate at which the transplanted kidney functions normally without the need for dialysis or retransplantation, was 98% at 1 year, 93% at 5 years, and 84% at 10 years after transplantation, showing outcomes comparable to general living donor transplants. Park Soon-cheol, Director of the Organ Transplantation Center (Professor of Vascular and Transplant Surgery), said, "With the introduction of ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation, patients who previously could not receive transplants due to the lack of compatible donors were given the opportunity for transplantation." He added, "With the development of essential medications and tests required for this procedure and the expansion of insurance coverage, it is expected to become more active."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.