The TOP-Course e.V. (Transplantation Operative Procedures) provides hands-on training for surgical procedures to aspiring European transplant surgeons.
The TOP-Course e.V. aims at teaching both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in visceral and thoracic transplantation as well as in organ retrieval.

All courses are designed to give each participant the chance
+ to practice surgical techniques according to his/her capability, as demonstrated by video and in
   daily theoretical lessons.

Therefore the courses are
• limited to low numbers of participants,
• divided into teams of 2 to 4 persons per table,
• supported by one tutor per each team.

Since September 1999 as the TOP-Course started on an initiative by Prof. Wolfgang Schareck, University of Rostock, and Dr. Sabine Köhler, it is being arranged three times a year.

Originally founded under the auspices of the
- German Transplantation Society
- the German Foundation of Organ Donation
- and the Eurotransplant International Foundation

in 2006 the TOP-Course additionally became incorporated in the
Educational programme of the European Society for Organ Transplantation.

Since 2009 the TOP-Course >Organ Retrieval< was established as a second special hands-on training focused on the procedures of organ explantation and organ donation.

In October 2009 the society TOP-Course e.V. was founded.

First time in 2010 the TOP-Course >Laparasopic Kidney Donation< and the TOP-Course >Thoracic Transplantation< will complement the educational offer.


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