Eurotransplant Annual Meeting 2015
Eurotransplant 4.0
With his presentation „Eurotransplant 4.0‟ leaving Board member Prof.
Mühlbacher provided his personal view and experiences on the past and
future developments of Eurotransplant. He presented a timeline of
Eurotransplant which he divided in several periods. He referred to
Eurotransplant 1.0 as the pioneer phase with Prof. Van Rood. During these
early days there was a strong development and success in improving the
match: the better the match, the better the results.
The next years, presented as the period Eurotransplant 2.0, was a phase where enthusiasm of the ET Directors, Dr. Cohen
and Dr. Persijn, played an important role. They were very visible in the transplantation field as ambassadors of international
cooperation. Also in this phase, among others the annual and winter meetings were developed and the democratic structure
of ET was established.
The next period - Eurotransplant 3.0 - was a time under the presidency of Prof. Dr. Yves Vanrenterghem, wherein there was a
strong focus on allocation. Also in these years, organ donation, allocation, transplantation and follow-up were separated.
The ET cooperation grew with the entrance of a new member state: Slovenia (2001). A new phase started in 2005, when both
a new President (Dr. Meiser) and new team of Directors (Arie Oosterlee MD / General Director and Dr. Axel Rahmel / Medical
Director) started in their positions. Prof. Mühlbacher referred to this phase as Eurotransplant 3.1. In this phase the role and
importance of allocation development has been continuously growing. Looking forward to the future – the Eurotransplant
4.0. period – Prof. Mühlbacher recommends ET to concentrate and improve the registry of transplant follow-up data as
essential input for optimizing the organ transplantation. Also creating a living donor registry should be facilitated, to
contribute to ruling out trafficking and also, to obtain long-term data on risk factors. Last but not least, he mentioned that
from his point of view, the structure of the ET Council should be upgraded to have the decision makers on board.
In his closing words, Prof. Meiser thanked both speakers and expressed his sincere thanks to Prof. Mühlbacher for all he has
done for Eurotransplant in the past 20 years!
Report Annual Meeting 2015 | Eurotransplant
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