The Canary Islands Renal Transplant Program has allowed 2,000 interventions to be carried out since its launch 27 years ago and places the Archipelago as the place in the world with the most functioning kidney transplants per million inhabitants, reaching 72 last year. Spain and the United States are the countries with the highest kidney transplant activity and they perform about 50 transplants per year per million inhabitants.
This was indicated at a press conference by the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mercedes Roldós, and the director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), Rafael Matesanz, during the presentation of the commemorative events of the 2,000 kidney transplants performed at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC) since 1981.
In this regard, the Minister of Health stressed that 48 percent of patients who need a transplant wait less than six months to receive an organ.
Matesanz recalled that chronic kidney failure is a very important public health problem worldwide, said that around 1.5 million people are treated with dialysis and more than one million die without treatment.
In addition, he stressed that 2 percent of the health budget goes to treating this disease.
The director of the ONT said that the donation and transplant program developed in the Islands is a national and international benchmark, described the result as "truly spectacular", and assured that a Canarian patient with kidney failure has "more chances of being transplanted than any other citizen in the world".
He also said that maintaining a patient on dialysis costs about 50,000 euros per year, noting that the transplant -although it represents a similar figure in the first year- allows to lower the figure to 6,000 euros in the second year of the intervention.
Matesanz stressed that the Canary Islands has opted for a therapeutic option that involves a better cost-benefit ratio, and noted that the Canary Islands saves 52 million euros.
FIRST TRANSPLANT
In 1981, the HUC was the Canarian center where the first kidney transplant was performed, and in it, over 27 years, kidney patients on dialysis from all the Islands have been transplanted.
The general data of the Regional Kidney Transplant Program indicate a balance between the number of people transplanted in the two Canarian provinces. They also indicate that 21 percent of transplanted patients were diabetic.
The donated organs come mainly from deceased people and in practically equal percentages in the two Canarian provinces, as well as the distribution of organs between both. However, despite the high number of donors and transplants in the Canary Islands, the kidneys available for people who need a transplant are still insufficient.
In this regard, the Minister of Health highlighted the high prevalence in the Canary Islands of diabetes, a disease that is the leading cause of chronic kidney failure and whose figures in the Islands triple those of the State.
To increase the number of transplants, the HUC started the living donor kidney transplant program last year. This option is the greatest possibility for the survival of young patients, according to Matesanz, who stressed that the kidney graft from a living person has a higher survival rate than that from a cadaver.
Last year, the first intervention with a kidney from a living donor was carried out in the Canary Islands, so far two transplants have been performed and there are seven people on the waiting list. It is expected that in the coming years between 20 and 30 annual transplants of this type will be performed.
The living donor kidney graft can shorten the waiting time on dialysis, and could decrease the waiting list for a transplant by 20 percent. It also provides the opportunity to receive a kidney graft in the pre-dialysis stage, which is associated with better long-term survival results, said Matesanz.
Roldós stressed that kidney transplantation is the best therapeutic option for patients with chronic kidney failure, highlighted the achievements made in the Canary Islands, which he attributed to donors and health professionals, as well as associations of kidney patients.
COMMEMORATIVE ACTS
The HUC has organized a series of events to commemorate the 2,000 transplants, which is themed 'Thanks to you' and includes an exhibition on the world of transplants in the health center, the dissemination of a advertising spot to highlight the importance of donations and the realization of the 'Donor's Song.
It also contemplates the inauguration on October 18 of the Donor's Forest, which will be located in the Anaga Rural Park, as well as a scientific event at the HUC, on October 23.
An institutional event, which will be held on October 17, at the University of La Laguna, will serve to honor professionals promoting kidney transplantation.
SM-TF-ACN
