They grow 8% but without record figures due to the pandemic

The pandemic has once again prevented Spain from recovering the record numbers of donations and pre-Covid transplants, but its effect is beginning to be mitigated, remaining a world benchmark: in 2021, 8% more were made than in the previous year.

Transplants in Spain in 2021 grow by 8% and continue to be a world benchmark

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias (l), and the general director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), Beatriz Domínguez-Gil (r), present the annual balance of donation and transplant activity for 2021. EFE/Javier Lizón

Transplants in Spain in 2021 grow by 8% and continue to be a world benchmark

In 2021, 4,781 transplants were carried out, 8% more than in 2020, thanks to the 2,229 people (40.2 per million population) who gave their organs.

After the drop in transplants last year, Spain recovers the positive trend and remains a world benchmark, doubling the rate of the EU (18.4) or quadrupling that of Germany (10.9), highlighted the Minister of Health , Carolina Darias, in the presentation of the balance of activity of the National Transplant Organization (ONT) together with the general director of the organization, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil.

During the second year of the pandemic, 2,950 kidney, 1,078 liver, 362 lung, 302 heart, 82 pancreas, and 7 intestinal transplants were performed, bringing the rate of donors per million population (pmp) to 101; Living donor kidney transplant activity increased by 25%, with a total of 323 procedures, an activity very similar to that of 2019.

In total, 4,781 transplants, 159 of them children, which were possible thanks to 1,905 deceased donors, with whom the donation rate stood at 40.2 pmp In addition, there were another 324 living donors, 323 of them a kidney and 1 from your liver.

transplants
Photograph provided by the La Paz hospital of the first infant lung transplant. EFE

The profile of donors in 2021

The main cause of death for donors is stroke, while those who died in traffic accidents remain very low, just 4.7%. On the other hand, the 35 donors who died from neurodegenerative diseases stand out.

More than half of the people who donated their organs, 53.7%, are over 60 years old, just over a quarter (27.5%) are over 70 and 3.8% are over 80, a lower percentage than in previous years, something that is probably due to the need to be more selective at critical moments of the pandemic. Refusals to donate were 17%.

By communities, Cantabria was once again at the top with a rate of 72.4 donors pmp, followed by Navarra (62.1), Murcia (52.3), Asturias (51.5), the Basque Country (50.7) and Valencian Community (50.3).
At the other extreme are La Rioja (22.6); Madrid (27.1) and Aragon (29.5).

These are figures that do not reach the historical maximums of 2019, when Spain returned to being the leader in transplants and donations for the 27th consecutive year, but they do show a recovery from the ravages of the pandemic, since transplants have recovered 8% in transplant and donations 7% compared to 2020.

Despite the rise, there is still a large number of patients on the waiting list waiting for an organ: as of December 31 there were 4,762, similar to the 4,794 in 2020, according to data on transplants in 2021 from the HAVE.

However, the drop in the children’s list stands out, which that year added 92 children compared to 66 in 2021, a drop caused by the measures adopted by the ONT to facilitate access to pediatric transplantation.

Organs from donors with positive PCR

The protocols deployed for the evaluation and selection of organ donors and recipients have allowed 143 patients to be able to transplant from 61 donors who have passed the covid, six of whom had a positive PCR, which benefited 14 of the transplant recipients.

Domínguez-Gil has valued “the good data” of activity thanks to the adoption of specific measures agreed by the organization and the communities in collaboration with scientific societies, such as the development of protocols for the evaluation and selection of Sars donors and recipients -CoV-2, which have been adapted as the available evidence increased.

This has allowed, after an individualized evaluation, the transplantation of organs from donors who have had the disease, including those who persist with a positive PCR at the time of their death.

“Initially, clinical and microbiological cure was required, but we consider that, based on the available literature, this did not entail a risk for the transplant recipient”, explained its general director, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, at the presentation of the body’s activity balance. that the possibility that donors can transmit the virus to patients is “remote”.

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