The Hospital Sant Joan manages his first explant of lung after death to heart stopped

-The Center is a pioneer in this technique lung donation after cardiac death

– is the third hospital of Spain with the highest number of cases of donors in asystolic, according the national transplant organisation

-this practice began for the donation of kidneys, of which 52 have been explantado since 2010

Sant Joan, March 2012.- the unit of coordination of transplants of the Hospital Universitario Sant Joan d ’ Alacant has joined, within its code of donation in asystolic (donation after cardiac death), a program pioneered the lung donation Comunitat standing heartin collaboration with the unit of lung transplant of the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic the faith of Valencia, obtaining the first donor at the end of February.

This new program is born right on the second anniversary of the launch underway of donations to heart stopped in the center of Alicante, which began with the removal of kidneys. The decrease of donation by Encephalic death, due to the decrease of accidents of traffic and to the improvement of the neurosurgical treatments, took us two years to implement in asystolic for renal explant donation in Sant Joan. Once is established this technique of donation, and the reduction in lung donors, let’s optimize the option to expand this body ”, is responsible for the coordination unit, transplants, Lorraine Peiró.

Collaboration with the team of transplant of the faith, reference Center for lung transplantation in the Comunitat, will allow to prolong and improve the quality of life of recipients lung, as well as a reduction in the waiting list of lung transplant patients.

The procedure followed is as follows: the SES (sanitary emergency service) through the CICU (information and emergency coordination centre) active asystolic donation code before a possible donor lung, informing the team of transplant coordination of Sant Joan, who, in turn, alert to the faith of the case. Some of the criteria to consider to be a potential donor lung are the absence of chronic lung disease, age 60, having not been a cancer patient, the degree of smoking and present an x-ray of the chest without injuries, among other requirements.

In the Hospital La Fe is the search for a recipient patient, according to blood group and lung measures (transverse and longitudinal diameter). Then these professionals move to the Hospital Sant Joan, validated that lung function is correct about gasometrics analysis and perform the extraction of organs for subsequent implant.

As points out Peiró, time is money in this technique, after the activation of the code until the removal of the organs have to pass, a maximum of 250 minutes so that the viability of the bodies is the proper ”.

Leading the activity of donation in asystolic in Spain

Hospital Sant Joan has become a focal point in the donation to heart stopped at the national level that, according to data from the ONT (national transplant organisation), was the third Center in number of donors in asystolic in 2011 (of six in Spain made this technique)behind the San Carlos University hospitals and 12 de Octubre, de Madrid.

Since its introduction, there have been 44 activations (cases that meet the criteria to become a donor) and 26 donor bodies troops (five in 2010, 18 in 2011 and three in what far this year), which have been the removal of both lungs, after the newly released program, and 52 kidneys. This type of donation also allows obtaining tissues (corneas and osteotendinosas pieces).

Also, many national centres located in Castile – La Mancha, Murcia, Extremadura, etc, and de la Comunitat have contacted this hospital, interested in the technique of donation in asystolic and logistics which enabled us to bring it into operation.

So that it can carry forward the donation is essential family authorization and should be noted that, during these two years, almost 100% of the families have consented. Thanks to the quick response of the families, at a time as difficult as it is the loss of a loved one, is achieved to improve the quality of life of other people and their relatives. Therefore, from Sant Joan transplant coordination team we would like to thank you for this great act of solidarity which is, ultimately, organ donation ”, have highlighted.