Increasing number of kidney transplants with living donors in Belgium

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https://www.brusselstimes.com/1614699/increasing-number-of-kidney-transplants-with-living-donors-in-belgium

Increasing number of kidney transplants with living donors in Belgium

Sunday 8 June 2025By Maïthé ChiniA Belgian hospital is performing an increasing number of kidney transplants with living donors. In 2024, doctors at UZ Leuven performed 21 of these kidney transplants – a remarkable increase compared to previous years.

Belgium is a world leader in post-mortem organ donation, but transplants involving a living donor are still relatively rare. Only 10% of kidney transplants in Belgium involve a kidney from a living donor, compared to 50% in the Netherlands.
"We are also seeing a clear increase in the number of potential donors who are willing to donate a kidney. There is a growing awareness. People realise that they can make a difference for a partner, child or friend," said transplant surgeon Prof. Dr Diethard Monbaliu.
Thanks to less invasive surgical techniques for the donor and new blood filtration methods for the recipient, living kidney donations are becoming more feasible and safer.Still, such transplants remain rather exceptional in Belgium: approximately 80 kidney transplants using living donors are performed each year, compared to more than 400 using kidneys from deceased donors.
However, scientific studies show that the chances of a successful kidney transplant are significantly higher if the kidney comes from a living donor. "Donating a kidney is something you do out of love or friendship. Because you can live with one kidney, the kidney is the only organ that we can transplant in its entirety from living donors," said Monbaliu.
Advantages for patientsLiving kidney donation has a number of medical and logistical advantages. As the donor can be screened extensively in advance, the quality of the kidney is usually better than that of a deceased donor.The transplant can also take place at a planned time, often even before the patient starts kidney dialysis, which greatly improves survival rates and quality of life. Because the kidney is placed in the recipient's body immediately after removal, the risk of rejection is also lower than with a kidney from a deceased donor, where the organ must first be cooled and transported."The living kidney donor must, of course, be in good health. That is why people who apply to be donors are thoroughly screened by an independent multidisciplinary team," said transplant nephrologist Prof. Dr Maarten Naesens."As a medical team, we do not take any risks: we certainly do not want to cause medical problems for a healthy person. Everyone who has donated a kidney for transplantation at UZ Leuven is monitored for life by transplant surgeons and nephrologists," he added.Thanks to new surgical techniques, such as keyhole surgery via small incisions, donors usually recover quickly and can often leave the hospital after just three days. Furthermore, an exact genetic match or blood group compatibility is less crucial, as antibodies can be filtered out before the operation. UZ Leuven started using these new surgical techniques and blood filtering in 2024.The low proportion of kidney transplants from living donors in Belgium is partly due to the success of the Belgian law on organ donation after death, which states that everyone is a potential donor (unless they have explicitly registered their objection during their lifetime).

This is likely why, unlike the Netherlands, Belgium has no tradition of living kidney donation. However, given the undeniable benefits for the patient, UZ Leuven wants to focus more strongly on this. A clear increase has already been noticeable in recent years, and the hospital expects a further increase in 2025.