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This is the first intervention of its kind performed outside of Zaragoza, allowing for the donation of viable organs from patients after confirming the irreversible cessation of cardiorespiratory function.
El San Jorge University Hospital The Huesca region has carried out this March the first organ donation en controlled asystole with ECMO from the province. This is a significant milestone in the field of organ donation in Aragon, as it is the first procedure of its kind performed outside of Zaragoza.
Donation after circulatory death (DCD) – or donation after cardiac death – allows for the retrieval of viable organs from patients whose hearts have stopped, after confirmation of irreversible cessation of cardiorespiratory function. The use of an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine allows for the oxygenation and preservation of the organs after cardiac death.
This type of procedure is one of the strategies healthcare systems are using to increase the number of organs available for transplantation. In fact, in Aragon, in 2025, the 50% of the processes have been in donation after circulatory death and the other 50% in brain death.
El Transplant Coordinator of Aragon, José Ángel de Ayala FernándezHe congratulated the professional team that achieved this breakthrough. He also expressed his gratitude to the family for their generosity in accepting organ donation, thus helping to give others years of life.
The team that intervened in this first donation in asystole with ECMO in the province of Huesca was made up of about twenty professionals, both from the San Jorge University Hospital, and from the mobile ECMO team, located in the Miguel Servet University Hospital of Zaragoza.
Training and collaboration
De Ayala emphasized that this first donation after circulatory death in Huesca was made possible thanks to the training of the staff involved at the San Jorge Hospital, as well as the collaboration of the ECMO mobile team, which is leaving Zaragoza for the first time for an organ donation.
This intervention involved intensive care doctors and nurses from San Jorge Hospital, as well as operating room staff and X-ray technicians, along with transplant coordinators from Miguel Servet Hospital and San Jorge Hospital, the regional coordinator, two urologists, and two perfusionist nurses from Servet, among other professionals.
“Donation after circulatory death is the current growth path for promoting organ donation,” explained the Regional Transplant Coordinator. He added that thanks to the prior preparation carried out by professionals in Huesca and the work of the ECMO team at the Servet Hospital, which specializes in organ preservation, it has been possible to implement this technique outside of Zaragoza.
Currently, donation after circulatory death (DCD) is performed at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital and the Miguel Servet University Hospital in Zaragoza, and now the San Jorge Hospital in Huesca has joined them. The Obispo Polanco University Hospital in Teruel is also authorized.
José Ángel de Ayala pointed out that this milestone joins other recent advances achieved in the province of Huesca, such as having obtained donations in 2025, both at the San Jorge University Hospital and at the Barbastro Hospital, two in each of these centers.
