The rate of organ and tissue donors for transplants has reached a historic figure in the Reina Sofia University Hospitalone of the highest in the world. Specifically, the Reina Sofía recorded a rate of 84.4 donors per million inhabitantsas highlighted this Thursday by the transplant coordinator of the Córdoba hospital complex José María Dueñas at a press conference. The figure is much higher than the previous record, which was 74.5 donors and which was reached in 2016.
Dueñas has emphasized when reporting this achievement, that Córdoba is probably one of the cities in the world with such a high rate, well above the Andalusian rate, 51.2, and the national rate, 48.9. Dueñas has in turn thanked that the acceptance rate during 2023 at organ and tissue donation was 91.5%, so nine out of ten people consulted said “yes” to the donation in Cordovaone of the highest balances in Andalusia.
“In 2008 the donation rate was 40. When in 2009 we reached a donation rate At 70 I explained that we had to continue growing and then, perhaps due to my inexperience, I was called ambitious, since it was difficult to think that that ceiling could be surpassed. Although it is very difficult to achieve this figure, hopefully within another 7 years we will be able to surpass this current achievement again, with the collaboration of everyone, donors, professionals and patient associations, so that the people who are on the list of We hope they can receive their treatment,” indicated the transplant coordinator.
Currently, about 200 people wait for an organ at the Reina Sofíaof which between 50 and 60 a lung, a higher number a kidney, and then to a lesser extent a heart or a liver.
Historical record
As this newspaper already published, the Reina Sofía again broke the previous record of 2022 for transplants in 2023. Specifically, in the past a total of 278 organ grafts and 169 tissue graftswhich represented a percentage 6.5% higher than in 2022. These transplants were possible thanks to the generosity of 65 donors, which represented 20.4% compared to the previous year, being the Queen Sofia the Andalusian center with the highest proportion of donors. According to Dueñas, this high figure reflects that it can be transplanted 365 days a year, thanks to the donorsbut also to the high availability of professionals from very different areas who are willing to respond to the hospital’s call to facilitate the performance of the grafts.
He donor profile In Córdoba it is mostly a man, with an average age of 66 years. The first cause in 2023 was donation to a stopped heart or in asystole, with 51% of donors, surpassing donation in asystole for the first time than donation due to death. encephalic.
New advances
Regarding the notable advances of last year, there were sessions between Urology, Nephrology and Immunology to make possible the transplantation of recipients with high surgical and immunological complexity, the launch of the ex vivo liver perfusion and recovery program (which allowed 8 transplants, 4 lung and 4 liver), the development of a lung transplant improvement plan at the regional level and the application of new cold lung preservation techniques.
The transplant coordinator has also emphasized that the hospital’s extraction teams made 154 trips last year to make possible transplants, of which 34 were by air and 120 by land means. Furthermore, the Queen Sofia has managed to establish new alliances with the accreditation for organ extraction of the three private hospitals in the province (Cruz Roja hospital, San Juan de Dios hospital and QuirónSalud hospital).
Data by organs and tissues
By organs, in 2023 they were carried out 80 lung transplantsa figure 46.5% above that of 2022, the highest figure in the history of the center and the second highest in Spain, after the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona. Kidney grafts A total of 89 were carried out during 2023 (of which five were carried out through a living donation); 21 from heart and 9 from pancreas. Regarding tissues, the number of grafts was 4.25% higher than that of 2022).
Precisely, at the press conference this Thursday has been presenta recipient of a lung transplant during the past year, Cristina Vargas, 66, from Cádiz, who received as a gift from Kings, in the early hours of January 6, a new lung, which since then has allowed her to breathe after being connected to oxygen for several years.
Balance of 45 years of transplants
In the 45 years that will soon be completed since the first transplant was carried out at the Reina Sofía, there have been 2,169 kidney grafts, 1,671 liver, 769 heart, 872 lung, 268 pancreas and 3,900 tissue grafts (1,770 corneas and 2,155 bone marrow), thanks to the fact that 1,263 families said yes to the donation.
Present at the press conference were head of the Pulmonology section at Reina Sofía, José Manuel Vaquero; he government delegate, Adolfo Molina; he acting managing director, Francisco Triviñoand the thin HealthMaría Jesús Botella, as well as representatives of transplant patient associations.
