Introduction: While the reform of organ transplantation in China has achieved success, the organ procurement model for different regions in the country varies. Starting from a hospital-based organ procurement organization (OPO), Shanxi OPO was established as the first independent non-profit provincial OPO in China, which covers a donation area of 37.29 million population and serves 6 transplant hospitals in the region. Shanxi OPO was established in 2018 under the supervision of Shanxi provincial health commission. This study compares results before and after the establishment in regard to the quantity, quality and efficiency of organ donation and transplantation (OD & OT) within Shanxi Province, aiming at exploring a feasible and up-to-date procurement management mode in China.
Method: From the point of organizational structure, personnel composition, equipment management and core quality indicators, we analyze the data from 2015 to 2021 and compare the results before and after the establishment of the provincial OPO.
Results: In the past two years, a professional team with 7 departments has been built. Besides, advanced facilities like those for donor maintenance and information collection are equipped. Then in 2020, an ethics and scientific committee have been founded to guide scientific research and supervise ethical norm compliance. Through analyzing the quality control indicators, the number of OD has increased from 35 cases (PMP: 0.99) in 2015 to 126 cases (PMP: 3.61) in 2021, with an increase rate of 260%. The growth trend remains within Shanxi Province even under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while the case number of the country decreased. Since 2018, the number of organs procured from per donor and the organ utilization rate of Shanxi OPO have risen year by year, reaching 3.02 and 98.7% respectively in 2021. Moreover, the DBD rate has increased from 1.1% in 2019 to 20.63% in 2021, though there is still a gap compared to the national and international level. These positive changes indicate that the quality of our service in organ viability assessment, donor maintenance, organ recovery and coordination have been gradually improved.
Conclusion: Efficiency and quality of the organ procurement and allocation have been greatly improved in the past few years because of the establishment of Shanxi OPO. This kind of provincial OPO also provides a solution, which will lead a clear direction for the standardization of organ procurement in China.