One more year we celebrate that Spain is the world leader in organ donation and transplantation. For 26 years now, Spain has been the country with the highest number of organ donations worldwide, with an upward trend in the number of donors and transplants. On National Donor Day, our expert surgeon Dr. Alarcó highlights the importance of these figures in health and social matters: “Transplantation is the most important factor of territorial cohesion, the most genuine part of the Spain Brand”.
How many people need an organ transplant?
In the past year 2017, according to data from the National Transplant Organization (ONT), an average of more than 10 transplants were performed daily in Spain, and an average of 6 people donated their organs daily. This is a historic milestone: the waiting list has been reduced with respect to the previous year, and therefore the rate of arrival of donors and transplants is increasing.
Among the organs most in demand at present are kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas and intestine. According to data collected by the ONT, last year 4,896 people were waiting for a transplant, compared to 5,480 the previous year.
Among living donors, most of them are relatives and close friends of the patient, with the most common relationship being donation by a partner or spouse, followed by mothers, siblings, fathers and finally children, second-degree relatives and friends. There is also an increasing number of “Samaritan donors”, who altruistically donate organs or tissues during their lifetime to those who may need them: “This positive trend is possible in this generous country, committed to first-class healthcare professionals and one of the best healthcare systems in the world”, describes Dr. Alarcó, who is Head of the Pancreas Transplant surgical team at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands.
How to contribute: Can I be an organ donor?
Every day more and more people around the world decide to become organ donors. Any person who altruistically decides that, at the moment of their death, their organs will be used to save the lives of other people, can apply to become a donor. From this point on, in order for the subject in question to be able to donate his organs, the death should occur in a hospital Intensive Care Unit, where his organs can be preserved in perfect condition and guarantee the ideal state of health for the potential recipient.
As for the living donor, it must also always be altruistic and the donor must be of legal age and in good physical and mental health for the transplant.
Success factors: research, science and solidarity
The positive figures in organ donation and transplantation are the result of the combination of a supportive society and a first class medical team of surgeons. Dr. Alarcó is an expert in pancreas and kidney transplantation, and describes the surgical process as meticulous and laborious: “The transplant operation requires venous, arterial and intestinal surgery: first, the organs are removed from the donor body, which usually takes about 4 hours and must ensure the future functioning of these organs, followed by table surgery, which usually takes about 2-3 hours to check that the organ is in optimum health and to preserve it until it is implanted in the recipient. Finally, the implantation of the organ in the recipient body takes about 4 hours more”.
The entire multidisciplinary team of medical professionals works daily in their training and updating of transplant techniques, with the aim of offering the best results to people who donate their organs and to those who receive the generosity of the former to extend their lives: “There is no greater act of generosity than organ donation and transplantation”, emphasizes Dr. Alarcó.