50 kidney transplants, five heart transplants, eight liver transplants, and 24 cornea transplants performed at Stradins Hospital this year 0 10

In 2025, Latvia registered 25 posthumous organ donors, as well as three living kidney donors. At the same time, patients with severe and life-threatening diagnoses are still waiting for transplantation opportunities — 60 patients are waiting for a kidney transplant, seven for a heart, eight for a liver, eight for a cornea, and three for lungs.

Great attention was paid in 2025 to the professional development of specialists and experience exchange abroad. Doctors and coordinators from Stradins Hospital underwent training and gained experience in Sweden, Norway, and Estonia, strengthening both clinical skills and international cooperation. At the same time, work continued to ensure lung transplantation for patients in need, and the Latvian register of patients with kidney diseases was developed, providing patient monitoring, research activities, and timely planning of transplants.

This year, the liver transplantation program continued. To ensure PSKUS's accession to the donor organ exchange platform "Scandiatransplant," documentation was submitted for the accreditation of the Joint Laboratory according to the quality standard of the European Federation for Immunogenetics (EFI). This is an important step to ensure the quality and safety of the transplantation process in accordance with international standards and to expand opportunities for patients in need of organ transplants, the hospital noted.

Special attention was given to living donors in transplantation — a field where a healthy person voluntarily donates part of themselves to save the life of a loved one. To ensure maximum donor safety and high-quality transplantation, the National Transplant Coordination Service PSKUS and the Latvian Transplant Center collaborate with transplantation centers in Scandinavian countries. For example, in October of this year, PSKUS specialists went on a visit for experience exchange at Oslo University Hospital, where they learned about one of the most active living donor kidney transplantation programs in Scandinavia.

In 2026, Stradins Hospital will begin negotiations and take further necessary actions to join the international organ exchange organization "Scandiatransplant," which unites transplantation centers in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Estonia. Participation in this network will mean that in cases where the necessary life-saving organ is not available in Latvia, it will be sought throughout the region with a population of about 30 million people, ensuring a unified waiting list and increasing the chances of receiving a suitable organ.

At the same time, in 2025, the activity of society regarding organ donation increased. In the E-veselība system, 46,623 residents expressed their decision for or against organ, tissue, or body donation, which is 30% more than at the beginning of the year. Of these, 26,729 people consented to the use of organs after death, which over the year amounts to more than 4,000 new potential donors. Overall, about 2.5% of Latvia's residents took advantage of this opportunity. At the same time, compared to 2024, there is a decrease in the number of consents from donor relatives, the hospital informs.

In Latvia, organ transplantation is a fully state-funded type of treatment and is carried out by PSKUS.