Doctors Discuss Controversial and Radical Solutions in a Bid to Alleviate the Kidney Organ Shortage

VIENNA, September 6 (PROTEXT/PRNewswire) - Transplant specialists from around the world met yesterday to discuss controversial, radical and novel approaches to minimise the impact of the current organ shortage problem in a bid to help desperate patients in need of a kidney transplant. The full-day symposium, which opened the XX International Congress of the Transplantation Society in Vienna, marked the launch of 'Controversies in Renal Transplantation'. This is a new global initiative supported by Fujisawa and driven by an independent steering committee, co-chaired by Professor Robert Gaston of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, and Associate Professor Jonas Wadström of the University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. Kidney transplantation continues to be severely limited by a lack of donors. With recent trends indicating a rapid growth in the number ofpatients with end-stage renal disease requiring a kidney transplant, it has become more important than ever to address the controversial aspects of renal transplantation in an era of organ shortage. Sunday's meeting was entitled 'Controversies in Renal Transplantation: Organ Shortage - Narrowing the Gap'. The distinguished panel of experts drew upon existing medical literature and their own experiences to address important and thought-provoking questions, namely: - Who gets a transplant, who doesn't and who shouldn't? - How do we define candidacy in an era of limited resources? - Can we more effectively manage transplant waiting lists and the patients on them? - How do we deal with donor-recipient incompatibility and antibody-mediated rejection? - Should we embrace non-heart-beating donation? - How far can donor criteria be extended? - Should recipient risk factors influence the quality of the organ offered? In his closing remarks, co-chair Associate Professor Jonas Wadström explained, "The shortage of kidneys has led the transplant community to explore new and innovative practices and techniques to expand the organ donor pool. Optimising donor allocation and utilising extended-criteria donors and non-heart- beating donors are just some of the avenues being explored to try and navigate a way forward to help patients with end-stage renal disease". The 'Controversies in Renal Transplantation' initiative will run for 3 years and will comprise a series of educational meetings to be held internationally. The goal of the programme aims to generate discussion, education and awareness of the controversial aspects of kidney transplantation amongst the medical community and among patients and potential donors. This important initiative is the latest step in Fujisawa's pioneering activities to help expand the kidney-donor pool. Notes to Editors: The 'Controversies in Renal Transplantation' initiative follows a highly successful series of meetings on innovations in living-donor kidney transplantation, also supported by Fujisawa. The steering committee members are: Professor R.S. Gaston (Alabama, USA); Associate Professor J. Wadström (Uppsala, Sweden); Professor U.A. Frei (Berlin, Germany); Professor A.J. Matas (Minneapolis, USA); Professor M.L. Nicholson (Leicester, UK); and Dr A. Sugitani (Fukuoka, Japan). More information is available at http://www.livekidney.com or media@fujisawa.de Fujisawa GmbH is a subsidiary of Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., based in Osaka, Japan. Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is among the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies and employs over 8000 people in Japan, Europe, North America and Asia. Since its launch of Prograf(r) in Japan in 1993, the first in the world, Fujisawa has become one of the world's leading transplant and immunosuppression companies. Fujisawa plans to maintain its commitment to transplantation, and is dedicated both to improving the results of solid-organ transplantation and to ensuring the health and quality of life of patients. Prograf(r) is currently available in nearly 70 countries and forms the centerpiece of Fujisawa's continuing growth. Additional information on Fujisawa GmbH can be found on the Company's Web site at http://www.fujisawaeurope.com. http://www.fujisawaeurope.com Source: Fujisawa GmbH Marite Ode, Fujisawa GmbH, PR+Communications, T: +49-89-45442249, F: +49-89-45442030, media@fujisawa.de Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT