Spain performed 6,464 transplants in 2024, 10% more than in 2023thanks to the 2,562 people who donated their organs after dying, which grew by 9%, which shows rates never recorded in the world and that keeps our country as the undisputed leader in this activity for 33 years in a row.
The transplant rate stood at 132.8 per million population (pmp), the highest recorded to date, and the number of donors at 52.6, thus exceeding the goal of 50 that the National Transplant Organization (ONT) had set, according to the balance presented this Monday by its director, Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, and the Minister of Health, Monica Garcia.
“We are unbeatable in solidarity“, the minister celebrated at a level of activity that leaves far behind that of countries like the United States, where the donor rate was 48.1; Italy (29.4); France (27.6); Sweden (25 ,2); EU (22.9); United Kingdom (22.4); Canada (21.4);
The lung transplant, the transplant that rises the most
The transplant that rose the most in 2024 was the lung transplantwhich shot up 30% to 623, followed by kidney (4,047, 10% more); cardiac, which increased by 7% (347); and liver, which rose 6% (1,344). On the contrary, those of pancreas decreased by 2% (98) and those of intestinal ones decreased by 29% with 5, two less than in 2023.
Figures that were possible by the more than 2,500 deceased donorsof which 65% also gave tissues, the most numerous being corneas, bones and tendons. In turn, another 404 people lost one of their kidneys (397) or part of their liver (7) while alive. All together, there is an average of 17 transplants and 8 donors each day.
The profile of the organ donor is similar to that of previous years: about 60% were over 60 years old31% were over 70 and 5% were over 80. The oldest was 88 years old.
The most frequent cause of death was stroke (52%), while donors who died in a traffic accident only accounted for 5%.
This is the main difference with the next country in donors, the US, where they are much younger and They usually die from gunshot wounds.accidents or fentanyl.
Donors in asystole are already half
Although donation in asystole (from patients with catastrophic brain damage, neurodegenerative, cardiac or respiratory diseases in the terminal phase) is carried out in 25 countries, Spain is the only one that successfully transplants all types of organs from these donors, which accounted for 51% of the total with 1,316 , 25% more than in 2023.
A milestone resulting from the generalization in Spanish hospitals of a complex organ preservation procedure based on extracorporeal circulation devices (ECMO), with which 1,866 kidney transplants, 579 liver, 272 lung, 101 heart transplants were performed (which due to its special complexity only 8 countries do), 24 pancreatic transplants and a face transplant.
Another of the achievements of 2024 were the 16 living kidney transplants of the Cross Kidney Transplant Program. These interventions were done in the form of four cycles of 2 transplants, a cycle of three and a chain of 4 initiated by an altruistic donor. In addition, a patient from Spain was transplanted in an international cycle of three transplants carried out with Portugal. Likewise, 154 people who took advantage of their right to euthanasia They have made it possible to do a transplant for 442 patients.
The efforts of the ONT and the coordination and transplant network for patients with difficulties in receiving an organ have achieved that 308 were transplanted in zero urgency and 197 children receive the organ they expected in 2024.
They could also be transplanted 140 hyperimmunized kidney patientsfor whom it is very difficult to find a compatible donor.
However, as of December 31, 2024, there were still 5,096 patients on the waiting listof which 73 were children, 2.4% more than in 2023. But the thing is that “there will always be waiting lists”, which behave in a paradoxical way and increase when transplants also do so, Domínguez explained. Gil.
Twelve communities exceeded the objectives
Four communities exceeded 60 donors per million population, with Cantabria standing out above all, which reached 94.9, followed by Navarra (76.1), Murcia (69.4) and Extremadura (63.8).
Another seven exceeded 50: Canary Islands (58.6); Castilla y León (57.6); Andalusia (57.5); Valencian Community (57.4); La Rioja (56.3); Asturias (56); Basque Country (54.3) and Galicia (50.7).
While, except Aragón, which stayed at 36.6the rest reached figures above 40, as were the cases of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, both with 46.7; Madrid (43.3); Castilla-La Mancha (43.1).
Serving hospitals, those that had greater activity in 2024 They were the Virgen de Arrixaca in Murcia, which recorded the highest number of donors overall; that of La Fe de Valencia, which was the one that performed the most liver and heart transplants and the one that counted the most transplant patients; and that of Malaga, which led kidney transplants.
La Paz de Madrid, for its part, led the children’s; the Barcelona Clinic, those of pancreas; the Reina Sofía, the pulmonary one; Bellvitge achieved the maximum number of live kidney transplants; and Navarra was the non-transplant hospital with the highest number of donors.
Finally, 2024 was also a record year for the Spanish Registry of Bone Marrow Donors (REDMO), which exceeded the 500,000 registered members proposed by the National Plan: as of December 31, and with the incorporation of 30,010 in 2024, They added up to a total of 505,505.
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