- Статьи
- Society
- The starting point of a new life: how is pediatric transplantation developing in Russia
The starting point of a new life: how is pediatric transplantation developing in Russia
About 4,000 organ transplantation operations are performed annually in Russia. At the same time, about 10% of cases occur in children — thanks to transplantologists, young patients with severe liver, kidney, and even heart diseases get a chance at a new life. Izvestia talked with Sergey Gauthier, chief transplant specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health, director of the Shumakov Center, and foundations supporting such families about the specifics of working with such patients, whether a full-fledged life is possible after surgery, and what kind of help families facing the need for such an operation need today.
An opportunity to grow up
More than 320 pediatric transplants are performed annually in Russia. In 2025, more than 160 kidney transplants, over 120 liver transplants and about 30 heart transplants were performed in the country. Most of them are accounted for by the Academician V.I. Shumakov National Medical Research Center for Transplantology and Artificial Organs of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation located in Moscow.
Transplantation of internal organs — kidneys, liver and even heart — gives a full—fledged second chance at life to children who are faced with congenital malformations or acquired diseases that deprive a child of the opportunity to lead a full-fledged life, and sometimes even a chance at life in principle, the chief freelance specialist of the transplantologist of the Ministry of Health of Russia, director of the NMC TIO named after Academician V. I. Shumakov of the Russian Ministry of Health, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Gauthier.
— If we talk about numerical indicators, in the USA and Europe the number of transplants to children is about 5-7% of the total number of transplants performed, and in the Russian Federation it is about 10-12% of all transplants, — he notes.
At the same time, Russia is included in the pool of a few countries where this assistance is provided free of charge to citizens of the country, the transplantologist emphasizes. This applies to preparation for surgery, organ transplantation, and follow-up. Both adults and children receive medicines at the expense of the state.
The minimum restrictions prescribed to patients after surgery are regular use of special medications, a healthy lifestyle and a reduction in the risk of infections. In return, children get the opportunity to fully grow and develop with their peers.
"After transplantation, such a child gets the opportunity to grow up, his appetite normalizes, he becomes active, develops according to the age—prescribed criteria, can attend educational institutions, and socialize," explains the director of the Shumakova Center.
It is difficult to cope without the help of others
At the same time, transplantation, especially for children, requires maximum involvement not only from the doctors and the patient, but also from the family, which for a long time has to significantly rebuild its usual lifestyle. Additional support in this case is provided by specialized funds that work in cooperation with the medical center.
These are, in particular, the Life as a Miracle Foundation, which helps children in need of liver transplants, the Nastenka Foundation, which works with kidney transplants, and the Children's Hearts Foundation, which supports young heart transplant patients. Most of these organizations can stay in contact with families for a long time.
— The transplant operation is the starting point of a new life for the child. But it has its own rules, its own laws. And here it is extremely important to support the family both psychologically and with knowledge," explains Anastasia Cherepanova, director of the charity foundation "Life as a Miracle".
A significant part of the problems faced by families of young patients has been solved in recent years, says the interlocutor of Izvestia.
"Previously, for example, we were constantly involved in millions of dollars in drug collections, but now we have almost forgotten about it — the appearance of the Circle of Goodness foundation has relieved us of this responsibility," she explains.
However, there are still situations when it is difficult to get the original drug, and the child does not tolerate the analogue provided for free. In this case, the parent has no choice but to buy the drug on their own or seek help from charities, adds Olga Golenko, director of the Children's Hearts Foundation. There are also difficulties with therapeutic nutrition, which is required for some patients, but is not allocated at the expense of the state, adds Anastasia Cherepanova.
A significant part of the burden on the family is related to administrative issues and filling out documents, which in some cases may provide benefits for travel to the place of treatment within the framework of state assistance. The treatment itself is provided free of charge for the patient, but social and domestic problems remain with the family. And it can be difficult to cope with them without the help of other people, Marina Desyatskaya, head of the Nastenka Foundation's department for helping children with chronic kidney disease, told Izvestia.
The housing issue
Charities try to solve all these issues within the framework of targeted programs. A much more significant problem, which, despite the positive changes, is faced by most families, remains the issue of housing for the duration of the child's treatment. The bulk of such operations are carried out in federal centers, primarily in Moscow. Therefore, patients from the regions face mandatory additional costs for accommodation.
— After a call from the clinic requesting a transplant, the child must arrive there within two hours, — says Olga Golenko. — Therefore, the family cannot live at home in another region and wait. You need to be near a medical center. For a family, this means living in a foreign city for a long time at their own expense.
Most transplants to children are carried out from related donors, but if we are talking about waiting for an organ from a posthumous donor, then it can last not days or weeks, but months, emphasizes Anastasia Cherepanova. Given that the family is forced to almost completely abandon their usual life during treatment, such situations are sensitive for everyone, but they may simply be unbearable for low-income families from the regions or those who have several more children at home.
Most of the funds interviewed by Izvestia have special programs for such cases. In particular, the Children's Hearts Foundation has been paying for a hotel for a child and his accompanying person near the Shumakov Center since 2026 as part of the Accommodation program. The Nastenka Foundation operates a similar Cozy Home program, under which the foundation rents four multi-room apartments for patients, and the Life as a Miracle Foundation said that today they provide targeted support to 11 families in need of help with living, and this is a significant part of the charity's expenses.
Focus on doctors
The concentration of such operations in federal centers is a global practice, explains Sergey Gauthier. Adult transplantation is developing successfully in the regions — today 72 institutions in 39 regions have their own programs, and this is not the limit, he believes. However, children's operations of this kind are a narrow specialization that requires a special approach.
— Despite the fact that this demand is not widespread, it is about 10-12%, it is a separate extensive job profile that requires a lot of resources and skills, — said the interlocutor of the editorial office.
In working with the regions, the capital's transplant specialists focus on timely diagnosis of children who may need a transplant and their further referral to the federal center. Telemedicine also helps here.
"We are actively searching for such patients who require organ transplantation, because it must be done on time — at any time of the day, doctors of the institution where such a patient is located can request advice from us," said the director of the Shumakova Center.
If necessary, specialists try to take the patient to Moscow as soon as possible for further examination and preparation for transplantation.
However, after the operation, the child returns to his region, and the training of regional doctors to work with such patients is very important here, adds Anastasia Cherepanova.
— Children should be supervised by doctors after surgery. And here we often come across something — on the one hand, there are federal centers with excellent specialists, but there is a pediatrician on site, in the region, for whom this child is perhaps the first case in practice," she explains.
Therefore, in recent years, emphasis has been placed on working with regional doctors and improving their skills — again, through interaction with the Shumakov Center, which works with specialists of various profiles: special training programs and remote lectures have been developed for them.
— These doctors need to understand how to continue working with this person, how to monitor him and when to contact his leading transplant specialist, — says Sergey Gauthier.
In order to simultaneously support the doctors themselves, on whom the well-being of children largely depends, the Life as a Miracle foundation has opened a program within which residents' rooms in regional clinics are being repaired.
— It is clear that we always think about children and patients first, and then we saw that if we focus on doctors and support them, it will bring even greater results for patients. Because the burden that they are currently under is exorbitant," emphasizes Anastasia Cherepanova.
It's not just a matter of comfort
At the same time, representatives of charitable organizations working with pediatric transplantology are unanimous that the main task now is to solve the housing issue for families coming to Moscow for surgery.
— We want every child who is waiting for a heart transplant to have the opportunity to live in comfortable conditions near a medical center. It is important to us that the family can focus on the child and his health during this period, and not on finding and paying for housing in a strange city," explains Olga Golenko from the Children's Hearts Foundation.
The Life as a Miracle Foundation, in particular, proposes to take as a basis the practice already existing in the world of organizing boarding schools at transplant medical centers. Similar projects already exist in Russia, in particular, a boarding house that operates at the Dima Rogachev Center, which helps children with blood diseases.
This is not just a matter of everyday comfort, agrees Marina Desyatskaya from the Nastenka Foundation: the opportunity to live in Moscow near the place of treatment directly affects the availability of medical care, primarily for patients from the regions. At the same time, according to her, what is being done by the funds is still not comparable with the real need for housing.
"A family should not have to choose between the necessary treatment and the opportunity to pay for housing," she emphasizes. — If it is possible to solve this problem systematically and make living in Moscow accessible to a significantly larger number of families in need of long-term treatment, this will significantly reduce the burden on families during one of the most difficult periods of their lives.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
