A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel said Thursday that 453 Japanese people are known to have had transplants either of the heart, liver or kidney abroad, in the first such revelation of the number of Japanese receiving organs overseas.
Of the number of operations abroad, 103 were heart transplants, 199 liver transplants and 151 kidney transplants.
The panel said its figures for heart transplants relate to operations that have taken place since 1988, but it based the figures for liver and kidney transplants only on the number of patients currently receiving postoperation treatment in Japan.
Of the 103 people who underwent heart transplants, 85 have been receiving treatment at 20 hospitals back in Japan, while 18 others have died.
Of countries where the heart transplants were carried out, the United States topped the list with 85 patients.
Thirty-six hospitals said they are treating 199 patients who received liver transplants abroad, with 15 hospitals each saying patients underwent the operation in the U.S. and Australia, and 12 saying patients had the transplants in China.