ESOT: European Society for Organ Transplantation

More information on the ESOT Member Avenue can be found here.
More information on ESOT Membership can be found here.

Introduction
The procurement and preservation of organs from deceased donors is an essential part of transplantation. In most donors more than one organ is removed and the surgical procedure can be challenging. This part of transplant surgery is critically important. Surgical injury or inadequate preservation of organs at this stage may render a graft-to-be not transplantable or can lead to serious complications in the recipient.

The success of organ transplantation starts in the donor with optimal medical and surgical management of the donor. Nowadays, most multi-organ donor (MOD) procurement procedures are performed by specialized local or regional surgical teams, which are not necessarily the same teams that will transplant the retrieved donor organs. The accepting centre, therefore, has to rely on the expertise and skills of the procurement team. Therefore, adequate training and standardization of the surgical techniques is needed.

Seven years ago, Leiden University Medical Centre together with the Dutch Transplantation Foundation, initiated an annual National Workshop on the Surgical Aspects of Multi-organ Donation in The Netherlands. This workshop became a popular and time-efficient training program for surgeons involved in organ procurement, thereby contributing to a higher quality of abdominal organ procurement.

In 2005, the first European Donor Surgery Masterclass was organized in Leiden, The Netherlands. The interest for this masterclass was high and according to participants it was a very successful event.

Based on this success and with the intention to promote and enhance the quality of organ procurement in Europe, the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) has taken the initiative to organize the 5th European Donor Surgery Masterclass in 2009, as part of its educational program (www.esot.org). An essential component of the masterclass remains the practical hands-on session during which the entire MOD procedure is practiced in a step-by-step fashion using specially preserved human cadavers. In addition the course provides relevant and up-to-date information concerning anatomy and principles of procurement and preservation.

In 2007, an additional introductory course on ex vivo splitting of the liver was offered for a selected group of interested surgeons. This additional course the "Basic Course on the Split Liver" is organized in collaboration with the European Liver and Intestine Transplant Association (ELITA) and focuses on the basic surgical technique for splitting of the liver for transplantation. Livers procured during the practical part of the EDSM main course are also used for practical instruction. The practical training was introduced by two lectures on “Tips and whole bag tricks of split liver technique”.

Accreditation