Record liver donation from the oldest donor ever in Italy, a 97-year-old woman. The operation took place at the “Engles Profili” Fabriano hospital, in the province of Ancona. The explant was carried out by a woman from Fabriano who died last Saturday at 97 years, 6 months and 29 days, following a cerebral haemorrhage.
In 2019 in Florence, in 2018 in Grosseto, in 2008 in Ravenna and in 2003 in Savona organs had already been taken from donors with 97 years of age but none as long-lived as the donor from Fabriano.
In 2021 the average age of the donors used was 60.4 years, in 2002 it was 52 years. Overall, 46.8% of last year’s organ harvesting was from people who died over the age of 65, and 13.6% of donors were over 80 years old.
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“The average age of donors is rising due to the increase in life expectancy but above all thanks to an ever greater capacity of the transplant network to successfully use elderly organs, while maintaining very high quality and safety standards even in this type of transplants “, comments the director of the National Transplant Center Massimo Cardillo.
“In particular, the liver can maintain optimal functionality even at a very old age and this allows samples to be taken even from people over ninety. In this case the credit goes to the Marche Regional Transplant Center and the coordination of the Fabriano hospital for having completed the donation, naturally thanks to the consent of the donor’s family members, whom we thank for their generosity “.
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Unfortunately, older people are often mistakenly convinced that they cannot donate organs for personal reasons and for this reason, at the time of renewal of the identity card, they abstain or register an opposition to the withdrawal: in 2021 the opposition rate among the over eighty, it stood at 61.7% against 31.1% of the general population. “The case of Fabriano – concludes Cardillo – is the testimony that everyone can give consent to organ donation, regardless of their age: it is important to correctly inform older people, because even their yes can save the life of a patient awaiting transplant “.
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