Specialists from the Clínico and Servet hospitals perform the first liver transplant in Aragon by donation in asystole with ECMO support

Specialists from the Miguel y Servet and Clínico de Zaragoza university hospitals have successfully performed the first liver transplant in the Community of an organ donor in controlled asystole, also known as controlled cardiac arrest. This donation has been possible thanks to the support of the ECMO technology available at HUMS, an ECMO Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation system, which provides the necessary cardiorespiratory support to the donor's organs.

ECMO technology has once again demonstrated its value in saving time in the extraction of organs in cardiac arrest, a donation that is on the rise given the decrease in cases of brain death. But non-asystole donation (currently one in three donations in Spain) requires more complex processes, such as ECMO. Its management is carried out by the Intensive Medicine services, with great involvement of both intensivists and the Nursing staff of these units. The commitment to this care in the midst of the seventh COVID wave shows that, even in times of high healthcare pressure, professionals are capable of offering the highest quality to patients in healthcare activity.

The Miguel Servet University Hospital has used ECMO technology since 2013 as a cardiorespiratory support measure and, since the end of 2021, it has also been applied in controlled asystole donation. The last intervention of this type carried out at Servet resulted in the liver implant developed at the Clinic. The recipient continues to be admitted to this last center.

In our Autonomous Community throughout 2021 there have been 11 effective asystole donations: 7 at the Miguel Servet hospital and 4 at the Lozano Blesa University hospital. Of these donations, 6 have been made with ECMO support. A total of 12 kidney transplants, 4 lung transplants and 1 liver transplant have been performed (both lung and liver transplants have been performed outside our CCAA).