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According to the latest data from the National Transplant Organization (ONT).
The pandemic has disrupted transplant and organ donation protocols that have been adapting to the behavior of the Covid and has allowed, according to the latest data from the National Transplant Organization (ONT), that nearly 40 patients in Spain have received organs from 18 donors with positive PCR.
This is how it is advanced, in an interview with Efe on the occasion of National Transplant Day, on March 30, the general director of the ONT, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, who confirms the recovery of organ donations after the pandemic stop and that translates into a 11% growth so far this year compared to the same period in 2021, and "a similar impact is expected in transplants."
Domínguez-Gil does not want to anticipate that 2022 will be the year of recovery in which the 48,9 million donors per million population in 2019 and prefers to wait to see how the virus behaves in the coming months because "every time a resurgence occurs, the intensive care units (ICU) suffer," which is where organ donations and the transplant program occur. "suffers."
Domínguez-Gil explains that There are two categories of donors: those previously diagnosed with covid, who persist with positive PCR, and those who have incidentally been diagnosed at the time of donation. Regarding the latter, the ONT is about to publish new recommendations since these are donors who are positive for the virus but are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and die for different reasons.
The director of the ONT corroborates that in these cases transmission is "highly unlikely" and that the risk-benefit balance indicates that the "benefit is maximum because the opportunity for transplant is not lost, and the risk is minimal." "And the alternative of not transplanting could be the death of the patient on the waiting list or their deterioration", Add. Furthermore, the specific follow-up of the 40 recipients has so far not reported any problems that can be attributed to the characteristics of the donor.
Another line of work of the ONT is pediatric transplantation and donation. A program that reached historic highs is the 'split' liver transplant. Here two interventions are performed with the liver of an adult, one of them for a child patient.
In 2021, 36 procedures of this nature were carried out, this record number had never been reached before. According to Domínguez-Gil, "With these strategies we seek to ensure that our children have more opportunities for transplantation, given that due to their anthropometric characteristics they have more difficulties."
Another success is the ABO incompatible transplant program with which it is possible to perform a heart transplant on babies under 18 months incompatible with the donor's blood group. Domínguez-Gil comments that "until now the possibilities were very limited, but with this program, a heart of adequate size and an incompatible blood group, the chances of successful transplantation have increased by 50%.".
According to the director of the ONT, when a patient enters the waiting list for a transplant, the possibility of getting it is between 85 and 90%. "The waiting list will never end nor will it be significantly reduced, it is very stable"says the head of the ONT, who estimates the current number of patients at 5.000 (4.000 waiting for a kidney transplant and 1.000 other organs). In the case of the pediatric waiting list, the figure is about one hundred patients.
Domínguez-Gil explains that children have priority on the waiting list because the failure of an organ affects its physical and psychosocial development: "A child recipient always goes first to an adult recipient, and if there is no suitable recipient, that organ is transplanted to an adult."
The director of the ONT recalls the importance in this area of international cooperation, European cooperation in particular. "Thanks to this cooperation, we are better prepared to identify transplant opportunities for children, especially the youngest ones, who are the most difficult."
A donor who allows six transplants gives 56 years of life
Looking ahead to National Transplant Day, Domínguez-Gil sends two messages. The first to recognize health professionals for their work to combat the virus and maintain transplant programs, "even in a critical period such as the pandemic."
The director of the ONT recalls that this day is conceived as an act of recognition by patient associations to the professionals who make this possible, particularly intensive care doctors.
Without forgetting the gratitude to the donors and their families "for this perpetual gesture that is maintained throughout the years" and affirms that a donor who allows six transplants to be carried out "gives 56 years of life, contributes to sustainability, generates comfort for families and makes visible the type of society we are."
Source: Heraldo de Aragón
