In addition, it has once again become the Catalan hospital that has won the most organ donors.
The hospital has also led statewide asylum donations.
During 2020, Bellvitge University Hospital has carried out a total of 148 kidney transplants in adults, a figure that means that for the second year in a row it will lead this type of intervention throughout the state. Despite the impact of Covid-19, a total of 211 transplants were performed in 2020: 148 kidney, 56 liver and 7 heart transplants. In addition to the kidney transplant, these data place the hospital as the second in Catalonia and fifth in Spain in the liver, and third in Catalonia in the heart.
On the other hand, Bellvitge has been the Catalan hospital with the largest number of organ donors, a total of 50, according to data from the annual report of the Catalan Transplant Organization (OCATT). Bellvitge has also been the first center in Catalonia in terms of organs generated, with a total of 167.
Dr. Nicolás Manito, director of the Transplant Program at Bellvitge University Hospital, considers that these results, both for donors and transplants, show “how thanks to the generosity of the families and the effort of the professionals we have withstood the blow of the pandemic, which completely stopped transplants between March and May ”. In a year marked by Covid-19, the first goal of coordination and transplantation teams has been to ensure patient safety in extraordinary circumstances.
Organ donations were distributed almost 50% among donors with brain death and asystole (stopped heart). Specifically, 27 donations account for asystole achieved highest record of all Spanish hospitals during 2020.
Regarding the donation of tissues, Bellvitge stood as the third Catalan center with a total of 157 donors and was the first in obtaining heart valves. The figures achieved consolidate Bellvitge University Hospital as one of the leading centers in the entire state in the first and unquestionable step of the transplant system. The consequences of the emergency caused by Covid-19 explain the overall reduction in organ donations in 2020, 29% in Catalonia (24% at Bellvitge Hospital), and transplants (23% in Catalonia, 24% in Bellvitge). Exceptionally, in the case of liver transplants, activity has been maintained in 2020 at almost the same levels as the previous year. 56 transplants were performed, only 2 less than in 2019, "a fact that makes us think that without the three-month break we would have clearly exceeded the previous year's figures," explains Dr. Manito.
On the other hand, the reduction in heart transplants in 2020 has been offset at Bellvitge Hospital by the implantation of 8 long-term mechanical ventricular assistants (also known as mechanical hearts) last year. These devices are indicated as a bridge for patients waiting for a heart transplant or as a definitive therapy for those people for whom the transplant is not a valid solution and who without mechanical assistance would have no expectations.
Images: OCATT