Organ Transplantation in Iran

The first renal transplantation in Iran was carried out in 1967. Between 1967 to 1988 almost all renal transplants were from living-related donors and the number of renal transplants performed was much lower than the national demand. In 1988, a compensated and regulated living­unrelated donor renal transplantation program was adopted. As a result, the number of renal transplants performed substantially increased such that in 1999, the renal transplant waiting list was completely eliminated. By the end of 2006, a total of 21251 renal transplants were performed (3641 from living­related, 16544 from living-unrelated and 1066 from deceased-donors). In this program, many ethical problems that were associated with paid kidney donation were prevented. Currently, Iran is the only country with no renal transplant waiting lists, and 50% of patients with end-stage renal disease have functioning grafts. In April 2000, the legislation was passed by parliament accepting brain death and allowing deceased-donor organ transplantation. By the end of 2006, 18 brain death identification units, 13 organ procurement units were organized, and a total of 1546 deceased-donor organ transplantations were performed (1066 kidney, 327 liver, 122 heart, 20 lungs, 7 pancreas-kidney, 2 heart-lungs and 2 small bowel transplants). The number of deceased-donor organ transplants have slowly but steadily increased in the country. The majority of deceased-donor kidney, liver, and pancreas transplants have been performed by transplant team of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.