Tehran Times - In 1993, only two liver transplants were conducted in Iran, but the figures has been rising significantly over the years, reaching 749 transplants in 2016.

According to a large-scale research conducted by Tehran University of Medical Sciences in coordination with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, 4,485 liver transplants were performed in the country, over a period of 23 years (from 1993 to 2016).
The research data was gathered around by a collaboration of 24 university professors.

According to a report, first published in July, the transplants were performed in six centers; two centers in Tehran and one center in each cities of Shiraz, Mashhad, Isfahan and Kerman.

The report revealed that the number of transplants has been increasing steadily in all the centers over this period; however, the rise has been much faster in Shiraz, growing from only two transplants in 1993 to 524 in 2016.

Shiraz was at the forefront of such surgeries over the whole period with doing 3,663 of liver transplants out of the total 4,485 ones performed in the country.

Out of the total transplants, 4,106 were from deceased donors and 379 were from living donors. There were 3,553 adults and 932 pediatric recipients. Hepatitis B and biliary atresia were the most common etiologies in adult and pediatric patients, respectively.

The report indicates that over this period, livers were procured from more than 700 deceased donors per year.

In November, Deputy Health Minister Reza Malekzadeh announced that Iran is among the top 10 countries in the world in liver transplantation and ranks first in the region.

He stated that annually there are at least 500 liver transplantations in the country, around 85% of which are from brain dead patients.