Transplants take off in the Valencia region
National record set last week in Spain with 48 organ transplants on just one day
THE NUMBER of organ transplants at public hospitals in the Valencia region increased by a third to almost two per day in the first quarter of 2024.
The regional coordinator for transplants, Rafael Badenes thanked the families whose ‘solidarity’ has made this possible, as well as the donation and transplant teams for their ‘involvement and professionalism’.
A total of 176 transplants were carried out in this period, compared to 132 in the same period last year, and the number of organ donations also increased, by 11% from 71 to 79.
The number of kidney transplants has been particularly high this year, up from 67 in the first quarter of 2023 to 93, an increase of 39%.
Liver and heart transplants were up by 22.6% (from 31 to 38) and 18% (from 11 to 13) respectively.
Although there have been no pancreas transplants so far in 2024, compared to two in the same period last year, this was simply because there were no patients on the waiting list.
The hospital which carried out the most transplants was La Fe in Valencia with 105, a third more than January to March 2023, followed by Alicante general with 26 (15 kidneys and 11 livers), the same total as in the first quarter of last year.
Amongst the other leading hospitals in the region, Elche general has carried out 10 kidney transplants, six more than the period of comparison.
The most frequent organ donations have been from patients in cardiac arrest or flatline
(asystole) (40 in 2024 compared to 35 in 2023), followed by patients with brain death (32 in 2023) or from living donors (four in 2023).
National record
And a national record was set last week in Spain.
The ministry for health revealed that 48 organ transplants
nd took place on just one day – Wednesday, April 17, which was the most in the history of the country.
A department spokesman reported that the families of 19 people had ‘given the opportunity of saving or improving the quality of life of these 48 patients thanks to the donation of their organs’.
“This was all possible due to the great team work and efforts of hundreds of professionals and departments that had been coordinated to the millimetre by the national transplant organisation (ONT), so that the amazing gesture of the donation became the reality of a transplant,” he said.
A total of 29 hospitals in 11 different regions of the country were involved – the operations were 25 kidney, 11 liver, seven lung, three heart and two pancreas transplants.
One of the operations was performed on a person who was ‘in a critical condition with an imminent risk of dying if the transplant was not carried out in time’.
Another three of the recipients were children.
In order to transport the organs, six private aircraft were used and two commercial flights operated by Iberia and Vueling.
Airport staff in A Coruña,
Barcelona, Córdoba, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid and Vitoria all collaborated in order to make sure the organs arrived at the hospitals.
The previous record in 24 hours had been on November 29, 2019 when 38 transplants took place using the organs of 19 people who had died, one of whom lived in another country.
Last year a total of 5,863 organ transplants were carried out in Spain.
“This was possible thanks to the 2,346 people who agreed to donate their organs after they died,” said the spokesman.
And 437 living people also donated an organ.
According to the spokesman, Spain has been ‘the world leader in organ donation for more than three decades’.