
How many lives does the flu vaccine save? A Spanish study has the answer
20 January 2025
Rebeca Sanz Pamplona: “It is important to do things well and be honest with your results”
22 January 2025All this has been possible thanks to 55 organ donations, 49 of them from deceased patients and another six living kidney donors.
The Autonomous Community of Aragon has carried out a total of 2024 organ transplants in 115. This figure represents a increase in transplant activity compared to 2023 by 4,5%. This has been possible thanks to the 49 people who have donated their organs after dying and 6 who have donated a kidney while alive, totaling 55 donations.
The Transplant Coordinator of Aragon, José Ángel de Ayala Fernández, explained that thanks to the “immense generosity and solidarity” of 49 patients and their families in the Community of Aragon, 49 organ donations from cadaveric donors have been made in hospitals authorized for this activity. This represents a rate of 36,6 donations per million inhabitants., a figure similar to last year.
Specifically, 29 donations have been obtained at the Miguel Servet University Hospital and 20 at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital, with the average age of donors being 60 years old. In addition to these 49 donors, there were 6 kidney donations from living donors, carried out at the Miguel Servet University Hospital. The Transplant Coordinator of Aragon has commented that the number of family refusals to donate is in line with the national average, around 16%.
He also stressed the importance of the solidarity between autonomous communities. “We have sent 53 organs to other Communities and received 42 organs, which demonstrates the excellent collaboration between Autonomous Communities, led by the National Transplant Organisation.” According to de Ayala, the collaboration between the 17 Autonomous Communities and the exchange of organs “is essential to perform a greater number of transplants in Spain.”
51% of donation processes were donation in asystole (AD) and 49% in brain death (BD). Most donations in asystole, or donation after circulatory death, were performed using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
"These results encourage us to continue improving donation and transplant processes in the Community of Aragon, specifically, in the early detection of potential donors. To this end, from the Transplant Coordination Unit of Aragon we are working for the early detection of potential donors in all health areas of Aragon, with the sole objective of The goal is to increase transplants in the region and thus reduce the waiting list and gain years of life", de Ayala said.
organ transplant
The Transplant Coordinator of Aragon, José Ángel de Ayala Fernández, has indicated that of the total of 115 organ transplants carried out in the Autonomous Community last year, 88 have been kidney, 19 liver and 8 heart.
The Miguel Servet University Hospital in Zaragoza is the reference center for kidney transplantsOf the total of 88, 6 have come from living donors. This represents 10% more than the previous year. The number of transplants performed since the start of the kidney transplant programme in 1986 has been 2.212.
Likewise, Aragon continues to participate in the National Plan for Kidney Transplantation of Hyperimmunized Patients (PATHI Program), which is managed by the National Transplant Organisation, and in the performance of kidney transplant chains with 'crossed' living donors, which are carried out between a donor and a recipient who do not know each other, as a result of an exchange between donors from two or more couples who are incompatible.
As regards liver transplants, in 2024, the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital in Zaragoza has performed 19 liver transplants. This means that reached the figure of 760 liver transplants since the start of the transplant program.
In the case of heart transplants, in 2024, 8 heart transplants have been performed. This result is a new impetus to continue improving and meeting objectives in the heart transplant program at the Miguel Servet Hospital. Since the beginning of the program, in 2000, 198 heart transplants have been performed at this hospital.
Bone marrow donors
The number of bone marrow donors in 2024 in Aragon has risen to 556 new registered in the Spanish Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO). Since the start of the REDMO Registry in 2012, more than 9.000 donors from this Autonomous Community have registered.
During the year 2024, there have been carried out in the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital 16 autologous bone marrow transplants (bone marrow that comes from oneself is transplanted).
In the case of the Miguel Servet University Hospital, a total of 16 allogeneic transplants have been carried out (the donor has been a compatible relative) and 21 autologous transplants, of which one has been in a minor.
Main Image: Surgical operation performed in a hospital in Aragon. Government of Aragon
Source: Aragon Today