With a 2023 who scored the highest number of transplants ever, 585e 325 donorsthe Region Emilia Romagna is ready to celebrate, Sunday 14 April, the National day for organ and tissue donation.
Initiatives by information and awareness organized by regional health service also in collaboration with the associative world are provided throughout the territory (specific programs can be found on the websites of health and hospital agencies), to keep attention high on a lifestyle choice that can make a difference to the lives of others.
Now in its 27th edition, the event promoted by Ministry of Health it is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of this gesture of solidarity also in Emilia-Romagna, where donors are constantly increasing and transplants continue to grow, thanks to a capillary and well organized system, coordinated by the Transplant Reference Center.
This is confirmed by data from the first quarter of 2024: al March 31 I am 80 the donors reported (+2 compared to the same period in 2023) e 51 were used (-1); in growth and transplantscon 131 already carried out in 2024 (+2) both corneal harvests: 563 (5 more).
And give in 2023
The number of 585 transplants performed in 2023 confirms and strengthens the growth of recent years (the interventions were 516 in 2022 and 493 in 2021); a result achieved thanks to the increase in potential donors reported by hospitals (325, +6.2% compared to the previous year), and the strength of the territorial network. Consequently, the donors actually used (222, +7.7%), demonstrating the system’s ability to optimize available resources. So, good 585 (+13.4%) organs transplanted because they were considered suitable also thanks to the innovative treatment techniques introduced in recent years.
In 2023, the transplants from a non-heart running donor (DCD) i.e. from a donor whose death is ascertained using cardiological and not encephalic criteria. Well 70 reports of heart-stopped donation (17 more than in 2022) e 62 donors used (14 more) for a total of 122 organs removed and transplanted with this technique, decidedly more complex but capable of giving more hope to waiting patients. In particular, i heart transplants from DCD donation They were performed for the first time in the region itself last year: in total in 2023 the cardiac surgeons of the Irccs Policlinico di Sant’Orsola completed 4.
The credit for these numbers must be attributed to the excellent performances of the transplant centers of Bologna, Modena and Parma as for theorganization of the regional donation network coordinated by Transplant Reference Center. The enhancement launched in 2017 with the establishment of the COP (hospital procurement coordination) for the identification of organ and tissue donors has in fact increased the already high attention paid to the 23 donation sites spread throughout the Emilia-Romagna area. The numbers for 2023 must, therefore, to awareness and support activities carried out over the years by the Emilia-Romagna CRT, to capillary organisation of the regional network e to the high organ acceptance index demonstrated by transplant centers.
The Gift Index report of the National Transplant Center
Il National transplant center also this year he edited and published the relationship Gift Indexnow in its fifth edition, which analyzes the numbers of declarations of intent to donate organs and tissues registered in 2023 to the renewal of identity cards in the registers of over 7 thousand Italian municipalities; the values are expressed in hundredths and take into account some indicators such as the percentage of consensus, the percentage of abstentions and the number of documents issued.
Emilia-Romagna there is a gift index of 62.75/100: the approval percentage is 70.8% and abstention is at 40.6%, against a national average of 68.5% yes and 41.8% abstentions. Among the different age groups, the most generous are citizens between 51 and 60 years old (73.7% approval); 18-30 year olds stop at 67.9%, and in the case of those over 80 the consensus is 53.3%, probably – as reported in the report – due to the erroneous belief that organ donation at an advanced age is not possible.
The full report is available on the site www.trapianti.salute.gov.it