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Preface

This publication was developed for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Division of Transplantation, by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients contractor, the Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, under contracts 234-2005-37011C and 234-2005-37009C, respectively.

Both contracts require an Annual Data Report, though each contractor has separate responsibilities within the report. Arbor Research coordinated the descriptive chapters and prepared the data-related sections of this report, including the Data Tables, Glossary, and Technical Notes. UNOS arranged for the report's production and dissemination.

This Annual Report of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) represents the 18th such annual report and is based largely on data pertaining to the 10-year period from 1998 to 2007.

This preface describes the changes from previous reports and also serves as an introduction to the sections that follow.

Overviews and Highlights

More than 40 experts from many areas of the transplant community contributed to this year's report, continuing the format established in 2002. Chapters I through VIII, coordinated by SRTR staff, present these experts' descriptions of data highlights and trends. These chapters function as more than simple summaries; they are multi-authored and peer-reviewed analyses, complete with references, separate figures, and additional explanatory tables. Some of the chapters address topics traditional to the Annual Report, including trends in organ-specific transplantation and donation. Additionally, several of the chapters discuss current organ allocation policy or innovative areas of research within the transplant field.

Two of the chapters address topics that have not been examined in detail in previous annual reports: The first provides a comprehensive explanation of the concept and methods recently developed by the SRTR for transplant centers to monitor their outcomes using the cumulative summation (CUSUM) technique (Chapter VII). The second article explains the evolution of liver net benefit calculations as the basis for a revision of deceased donor liver allocation policy in the United States. (Chapter VIII). Slightly modified versions of all eight chapters are also being published as stand-alone, peer-reviewed articles in "The 2008 SRTR Report on the State of Transplantation", a special issue of The American Journal of Transplantation.

Data Tables

Fifteen topic-specific sections of descriptive data include the summary tables referenced in the preceding chapters, as well as detailed data from the last 10 years on the following topics:

• donor, recipient, and waiting list candidate characteristics
• organ procurement and disposition
• waiting list activity, such as time to transplant and transplant and mortality rates
• posttransplant outcomes, such as graft survival, patient survival, and development of malignancies
• summarized organ procurement organization and transplant center activity
• immunosuppression use

Resources

The Technical Notes describe all the data presented in this report, including the calculations and methods used to create the tables. The notes follow the topical order of the data tables. The Glossary and Key to Selected Acronyms introduce readers to clinical and statistical terms that may be unfamiliar. The Resources section also includes a comprehensive List of Figures included in the report and a full set of Data Collection Worksheets.

For Additional Information

Suggested Citation (Full): 2008 Annual Report of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: Transplant Data 1998-2007. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Division of Transplantation, Rockville, MD.

Suggested Citation (Abbreviated): 2008 OPTN/SRTR Annual Report 1998-2007. HHS/HRSA/HSB/DOT.

Publications based upon data in this report or supplied upon request must include the above citation as well as the following statement: The data and analyses reported in the 2008 Annual Report of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients have been supplied by UNOS and Arbor Research under contract with HHS/HRSA. The authors alone are responsible for reporting and interpreting these data; the views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Government.

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