Last year, the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague carried out more organ transplantations than ever before. A large part of this success is due to the donor hospitals, whose professionalism and close collaboration provide the foundation for the programme’s achievements.
The availability of transplantations for patients with kidney failure increased significantly in 2025: in total, the teams transplanted 341 kidneys. The number of donors reached a historic high of 191. Of these, 319 kidneys came from deceased donors, and 22 from living relatives. The average functional lifespan of transplanted kidneys now stands at around 20 years, and the number of patients with transplanted kidneys continues to rise.
Heart transplantations also progressed successfully: 57 hearts were transplanted last year, a third more than in previous years. This is made possible, among other things, by the use of the Transmedics OCS Heart, a device that allows the perfusion and transport of beating hearts over longer distances. IKEM has had access to this device for six years thanks to the Kapka-Naděje Fund and Shell Czech Republic. In 2025, it assisted in twelve transplantations, including from donors after declared circulatory death.
A total of 150 liver transplantations were performed, including twelve donations from living relatives – among them the youngest patient in IKEM’s history, a five-week-old girl weighing 3.5 kilograms. The paediatric transplantation programme would not be possible without cooperation with the Paediatrics Department of Thomayer University Hospital.
Pancreas transplantations were performed 37 times, while two patients received small intestine transplants.
Thanks to a building expansion, IKEM was able to further expand patient care in 2025. New departments, such as the Metabolic Intensive Care Unit, were opened, and the Department of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation moved into new premises, which also care for patients with severe liver failure prior to transplantation.
IKEM – Institut klinické a experimentální medicíny
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