The Transplantation Program in the Czech Republic

The main goal of the transplantation program is to substitute the function of a failing organ, or to improve quality of life in case of tissues. It applies not only to donors and recipients or patients on the waiting list, but also to transplantation teams and organ/tissue coordinators.

Transplantations can be divided into three main groups:

  • organ transplantations
  • tissue transplantations
  • transplantation of hematopoietic cells

The beginning of transplantations in Czechoslovakia then can be dated back to 1961 (November 23, actually) when the first kidney transplantation was performed in the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Kralove. The kidney was transplanted to a sixteen-years-old girl, who had lost her solitary polycystitic kidney. The donor was her mother. Although the function of the graft had been restored, the patient died of an infection after 16 days. The clinic has re-started further transplantations in 1969. The real systematic transplantation program in Czechoslovakia has been launched by the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague in 1966, carrying out their first kidney transplantation on the 21st of March, 1966. The recipient´s name was Karel Pavlik, the donor being his mother. The graft had worked for three years, the patient dying in 1969 of brain hemorrhage.

At present, apart from kidney transplantations (performed by IKEM Prague, CKTCH Brno, TC Motol, TC Ostrava, TC Olomouc, TC Plzen, and TC Hradec Kralove) also hearts are transplanted (IKEM Prague, CKTCH Brno), lungs (TC Motol Prague), livers (IKEM Prague, CKTCH Brno) and pancreas including Langerhans islets (IKEM Prague).
In terms of tissue transplantations eye corneas are mainly concerned. This kind of transplantation is the oldest alotransplantation being performed in clinical practice. The first successful transplantation of cornea was carried out by dr. Zirm in Olomouc in 1905. Transplantation of hematopoitetic cells still is a specific issue.