# KOTRY cohort in Korea: heart transplant age criterion revised after 12-year follow-up

- Published: 2026-11-06 06:55 UTC
- Section: Life & Health › Medicine
- Tags: organ transplant cohort, KOTRY, heart transplant age criterion, organ allocation, transplant follow-up, Yonsei University, kidney transplant registry Asia
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-c4ffed699a5885160aac21c1_kotry_cohort_in/

**Korea's national transplant cohort followed patients for 12 years; analysis of 628 heart recipients showed no survival gap for walking patients aged 65 and older.**

![KOTRY cohort in Korea: heart transplant age criterion revised after 12-year follow-up](https://sgzwpqqelzmajkcubgkl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/rt-media/2026/11/8b9c2dde8774dd25.jpg)
*yna.co.kr*

On 6 November, the National Institute of Health of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Korean Organ Transplantation Registry (KOTRY) presented results of the national organ transplant cohort project at Severance Hospital in Seoul, yna.co.kr reports. [1] The project has run since 2014. [1] As of October, 88 transplant centres have registered and followed transplant patients for 12 years. [1]

## Cohort scale and context

KOTRY covers kidney, liver, heart, lung and pancreas. [1] According to Prof. Yang Jae-seok of Yonsei University, the same patients are followed for years after surgery, showing how long a transplanted organ lasts and which complications appear and when. [1] Korean data are used to review allocation and donation criteria, since foreign data differ in donor and patient characteristics. [1]

According to the WHO's 2023 donation and transplantation statistics, South Korea ranks sixth worldwide by transplant count and first in Asia. [1] Kidney transplants rose 2.8-fold from 663 in 2000, and liver transplants 4.8-fold from 272. [1] About 8.5 people a day die without receiving a transplant. [1]

## Heart transplant age criterion

The researchers analysed 628 heart transplant patients treated in 2015–2020. [1] Patients aged 65 and older who could walk at the time of transplant showed no difference in survival from younger patients. [1] Yang said age alone is weak grounds for setting the order, and the data were used to change the age criterion for transplant. [1]

A registry of kidney transplant patients from Asian countries has operated since 2019; registered patients numbered 234 in 2020 and rose sharply last year. [1] KOTRY plans prognosis research for individual transplant patients and linking of clinical and genomic data. [1]

## Sources

1. [yna.co.kr](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261106125400530)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-c4ffed699a5885160aac21c1_kotry_cohort_in/