[Epidemiology and results of organ grafts]

Using the complete, multicentric Registry of organ transplantation in France, from 1970 to 1992, including 26,485 transplantations (kidney, heart, heart-lungs, lungs, liver), we studied four statistical parametres: 1. movement on the waiting list; 2. mean waiting time; 3. actuarial survival of the graft for the kidney, heart and liver; 4. number of recipients surviving with a functioning graft as of 31 December 1992. Patients awaiting a kidney transplant comprise a group that differs epidemiologically from the others on the basis of the length of the waiting list, entering and existing flux, and for the mortality rate of patients waiting for a graft. Similarly, the actuarial survival profile is different for the first year in kidney transplant recipients compared to the others.