For the first time, a donation operation in controlled asystole was carried out in Chubut
“More than a week ago we announced in the Hospital hall the importance of donating organs and tissues, today we are spreading the word that people want to donate and in this hospital we can do it,” Lic. Lilian Barría began by saying, after confirming that transplant patients They were responding correctly to the procedure.
The Comodoro Regional Hospital once again demonstrates its human and professional quality by putting into operation an organ donation process where a patient is prepared so that this can be done. “The patient was hospitalized several weeks ago and unfortunately had an irreversible situation, we spoke with the family, they said yes to the therapeutic adaptation and we began the process of preparing for surgery, which is why it is called donation in controlled asystole” described the Lic. . in Barría infirmary.
During the conversations with the family, the specialists confirmed that the patient had expressed during his lifetime that he wanted to donate. “The work with the families, the meetings and talks we have are very sensitive, we analyze not only the medical part but also what the family knows.” of the patient, so we found out that the patient told a cousin that he wanted to be an organ donor if something happened to him, although by law we are all donors,” commented the specialist. For this reason too, the family members accompanied the process, understanding that this was going to help other people, and they accepted the patient’s suitability to develop this process.
As in every donation process, there were many who participated, from nurses and doctors from the adult intensive care unit, laboratory, blood bank, imaging specialists, operating room nurses and instruments, maintenance, hospital communication, emergency services. transportation, roads, police, airport, Aerolíneas Argentinas, the UHPROT team as well as Nurse Soledad Velozo, Nurse Geraldine García, Dr. Mariela Subirá, Dr. Pamela La Paz and from a distance Dr. Laura Morales, Dr. José Aringoli (surgeon), Dr. Sergio Clemente (Surgeon and Director of the Regional Hospital) and surgery residents. Also from the Single Ablation and Implant Coordinating Center (CUCAI), the provincial body belonging to the Undersecretariat of Health Programs of the Ministry of Health of Chubut corroborated so that the process is completed. “We are very grateful to everyone who collaborated, as well as Iona García from CUCAI who is always available for all the questions we have, it encouraged us to continue and be able to conclude a donation operation of this magnitude, coordinated by Nursing and the most gratifying , that everything has been successful, said Ms. Barría
Currently, the transplanted organs function correctly in the patients and the kidneys and corneas were destined for patients in the Patagonian region, which produces a virtuous circuit in the public health of the area and sets a precedent in the city.
Likewise, the Hospital adds one more successful procurement process, with this process there are 10 transplants that are carried out thanks to the work of the institution. During the first quarter of 2024, the “Víctor Manuel Sanguinetti” Regional Hospital of Comodoro Rivadavia allowed 8 people to improve their quality of life through donation processes carried out by the institution, to which two more are added, with the recent process. The dissemination, awareness and action regarding organ donation continues because in the province of Chubut there are 101 people on the waiting list to receive organs, 430 patients undergoing dialysis and 248 patients in the process of registering for the waiting list.
WHEN THE DONATION TAKES PLACE
This organ donation process called: donation in controlled asystole (CAD), occurs thanks to technological advances that allow obtaining organs for transplant from donors whose death occurred due to the irreversible cessation of circulatory functions.
In Argentina, Law No. 27,447 on Organ, Tissue and Cell Transplantation has included in article 36 the certification of death by determining the irreversible cessation of circulatory functions or the irreversible cessation of brain functions, as the case may be. Non-asystole organ donation (DCD) has been categorized into different modalities or types, according to the place and circumstances in which the patient’s death occurred.
The first classification emerged in 1995 at the international Non Heart Beating Donation Conference, which took place in the Dutch city of Maastricht, generating four (4) types of donors in asystole:
Type I: deceased admitted to the hospital (includes patients with sudden death, traumatic or not, that occurred outside the hospital who, for obvious reasons, are transferred to said establishment without resuscitation measures).
Type II: died after unsuccessful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Type III: deceased in ICU includes those patients in whom the decision has been made to withdraw life support measures – adequacy of therapeutic effort (AET).
Type IV: patients who progress to cardiac arrest in the process of diagnosing brain death.
This original Maastricht classification was modified in 2011 in Madrid, with the aim of including the term donation in controlled or uncontrolled asystole.
Information from the Ministry of Health of the Nation.
