Giving People New Hope and New Life! Bumrungrad Brings World-Class Standards to Thailand’s Leading Organ Transplant Center. Reveals Successful Heart, Kidney, Liver, and Cornea Transplants

Organ transplantation is a medical advancement which saves lives and can extend life for patients suffering from chronic diseases like kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, and heart failure. Also, corneal transplants improve sight so they can return to their normal lives and experience a high quality of life.

The world is currently facing a shortage of available organs for transplantation. According to the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT), in 2022, there were only 157,494 organ transplants performed worldwide. Moreover, kidneys were the most transplanted organ, followed by the liver and heart. However, many patients remain waiting for an organ transplant. This is consistent with the latest data in Thailand. As of December 31, 2024, the Thai Red Cross Organ Donation Center reported there were as many as 7,486 patients waiting for an organ transplant – a number which has steadily increased over time. The vast majority of those waiting for an organ are waiting for a kidney (95%) – with most of the remainder are waiting for a liver, heart, lungs, or pancreas transplant. Over the same time period, only 946 people have received an organ transplant, and an average of 2 people die per week while waiting for an organ.

Assoc. Prof. Taveesin Tanprayoon, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Bumrungrad International Hospital, spoke at a press event called Bumrungrad Transplant Services: Where Life Gets a Second Chance and shared “Organ transplants give people new hope and new life because they are an opportunity for patients to regain their full potential and live a more fulfilling life. Bumrungrad International Hospital, as a quaternary care facility, continues to develop centers of excellence to provide holistic patient care and deliver the best outcomes possible. Our teams of doctors and multidisciplinary healthcare professionals are experienced in performing major organ transplantation. Bumrungrad is a private hospital certified by the Thai Red Cross Society Organ Donation Center as a heart, kidney, liver and cornea transplant center. It is also the first private hospital in Thailand able to transplant heart, kidney, liver and cornea. Organ transplantation is complex and requires the expertise of a team of doctors, modern technology, high standards of care, and experience.”

Tatpong Chit-ua-aree, MD, a specialist in Internal Medicine - Nephrology at Bumrungrad International Hospital, said, “Kidneys are the most frequently transplanted organs in the world. People who need a kidney transplant suffer from end-stage renal disease. Whether they are on dialysis yet or not, they are eligible to receive a kidney transplant. These patients must also receive a comprehensive health assessment from a variety of specialists like, cardiologists, psychiatrists, and transplant surgeons.”

Bumrungrad International Hospital has performed kidney transplants for over 37 years. We offer a comprehensive range of services, from early diagnosis, care for chronic kidney disease, to kidney transplant for patients with end-stage renal disease. We can transplant kidneys into patients as young as 10 years old and up to over 80 years old, including those with multiple comorbidities. Our team of doctors and nurses closely monitors our patients post-transplant. In addition, we have a team of surgeons who travel to operate on donated kidneys from locations outside the hospital and who are ready to perform transplants after the donated kidneys arrive.

Over the past 2-3 years, our success rate has been over 90%, which is comparable to the standards found in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. This success is the result of a combination of the experience of our medical teams, use of advanced technology, and new innovations such as drug allergy gene analysis, laparoscopic surgical techniques, and robotic surgery. Importantly, Bumrungrad International Hospital is the first private hospital in Thailand to successfully perform ABO incompatible kidney transplants, allowing patients to receive comprehensive care and a chance to return to a full life.

Piyachat Pipatpongsopon, MD, a specialist in Cardiology - Heart Failure at Bumrungrad International Hospital, said that patients with end-stage heart failure often face challenges in day-to-day living. A weakened heart is unable to pump enough blood to the body, causing them to tire easily, have difficulty breathing, and experience palpitations, which worsens their quality of life and increases the risk of death by up to 10% per year. Heart transplant is the ultimate treatment to helps extend both lifespan and health span for patients. Currently, heart transplantation is highly successful and data show patient survival rates reach 85 to 90%. However, if patients do not receive a heart transplant at the right time, most may die within 1–2 years of diagnosis.

Heart transplantation is an important treatment option for patients with end-stage heart failure because it is a targeted and highly effective treatment. By replacing the damaged heart with a donor heart, the cardiovascular system can return to more normal function, resulting in a significantly improved quality of life for the patient. However, heart transplantation is a major procedure, which carries with it much complexity. To qualify, doctors must thoroughly assess the patient’s physical and mental health to ensure the best results. Post-op, the patient must recover in hospital for 1 to 3 weeks in a cardiac ICU that closely monitors them around the clock.

The Bumrungrad Heart Institute has a team of specialists and multidisciplinary professionals who expertly deliver comprehensive care to our heart patients. Our specialist doctors include heart failure specialists who have received board certification in the United States. We take a personalized approach to care, from diagnosis and treatment planning, to heart transplant surgery and leverage our over 20 years of experience, modern technology, and international JCI (USA) Heart Failure certification, to provide safe and successful heart transplants. Over the past 4 years, Bumrungrad International Hospital has successfully performed 5 heart transplants - allowing those people to return to their normal lives and have an improved quality of life.

Orapin Tanapanpanit, MD, a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Bumrungrad International Hospital, said that those who need a liver transplant are usually have end-stage liver disease that cannot be treated by other methods, and which has a severe impact on daily living. Conditions requiring a liver transplant include end-stage cirrhosis with complications; acute liver failure; early-stage inoperative liver cancer or liver cancer that has not metastasized to the large blood vessels of the liver or outside the liver; and some types of congenital liver dysfunction. Liver transplants help extend patient lifespan and improve quality of life.

Liver transplants allow the patient’s body to return to normal function, with improved organ function. The new liver will eliminate toxins from the body, create protein, and produce bile, allowing other organs such as the kidneys, heart, and brain to return to normal functioning. Symptoms caused by liver disease will also be reduced or eliminated, such as fatigue, swelling, and vomiting. As a result, patients will have more energy, be able to do more of their daily activities, and have a better quality of life–including increased life expectancy.

Liver transplant patients have a one-year survival rate of up to 97%; a 5-year survival rate of 82%; and a 10-year survival rate of 67%, which is considered a high success rate that reflects the expertise of the medical team and the use of modern technology. With over 22 years of experience in liver transplantation, our Liver Diseases Clinic is one of 8 specialized clinics in Digestive Disease (GI) Center, which treats over 42,000 patients annually, providing comprehensive treatment of liver diseases, such as acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, liver tumors, fatty liver, and liver cancer. We also perform liver transplant surgery as another way to give our patients the chance to regain a better quality of life.

Prof. Ngamjit Kasetsuwan, MD, a specialist in Cataract - Cornea - Refractive Surgery at Bumrungrad International Hospital, concluded by saying that corneal problems are a major cause of vision loss, which include corneal degeneration, corneal buckling/sagging, corneal swelling, and corneal ulcers or abrasions. Corneal transplantation replaces the damaged cornea with a donor cornea to improve patient vision and strengthen the cornea in cases where the patient has a thin or perforated cornea. Bumrungrad uses modern technology, such as a DaVinci robot that enables a number of techniques to examine the different layers of the cornea during surgery, making the surgery more precises and reducing the risk of complications.

There are 2 types of corneal transplantation: all-layer corneal transplantation, which is for patients with problems throughout the entire cornea; and single-layer corneal transplantation, which is for patients with problems in only a portion of the cornea. Additionally, there are both upper and inner corneal transplantations, which are delicate high precision techniques. For patients with complicated corneal disease, Bumrungrad’s Cornea Transplant Center has a team of specialists in a variety of fields that are qualified in a variety of treatment techniques, such as PTK laser, UV-A light therapy, and annular surgery, which can be used in conjunction with corneal transplantation to improve vision as much as possible.

With the expertise of our medical team and state-of-the-art technology, Bumrungrad International Hospital has achieved a corneal transplant success rate of 97%. Patients still have clear vision 1 year after surgery and no complications like post-operative infection or glaucoma have been reported – allowing patients to regain normal vision.