Saturday, April 30, 2011

National News: El Pais: spanish doctors perform the first 'domino' kidney transplant



Two Spanish hospitals have successfully carried out the first kidney "domino" transplant- a rare procedure involving the transfer of organs from several live donors- Health Minister Leire Pajín and Rafael Matesanz, director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), announced on Thursday.
The Virgen de les Nieves Hospital in Granada and the Puigvert Foundation in Barcelona carried out the procedure, which involved six people, on April 6. The process was initiated by a so-called "good samaritan" donor, a priest who allowed his kidney to be transplanted into an unknown recipient. The recipient's wife then donated her kidney, which was flown to Granada and implanted in another man. This man's wife then donated a kidney to a woman in Barcelona. With the new system, the ONT hopes to maintain Spain's world-leading organ transplant rate.

-- i found this article interesting because when i had visited granada i learned that it had a wonderful medical school program. this was very odd to me because granada was such a tiny town and it did not seem all that forward thinking, but this article proved me wrong. This is great that spain is a wold leading organ donor transplant rate, because a lot of the time in america people have to wait very long periods of time to get the transplant that they need to survivie. This domino effect is so wonderful because say a certain person needs a certain type of kidney and can only get it from one person, that person is going to risk their life, now it is possible for a family, or relatives to share the entire process and pass them down until everyone is safe and healed. This is a medical break through and a huge advancement for the spanish culture. This will put them at the forefront of the transplant world and gain them a lot of success and admiration.

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