Medical Milestone In Spain With First-Ever Live Cornea Donation

MEDICAL Milestone In Spain With First-Ever Cornea Donation from a living person

Andalucia has registered an incredible medical milestone at the Juan Ramón Jiménez Hospital in Huelva, after a patient required the removal of his eye tissue, and when asked by the surgeon, he agreed to donate his living cornea to the tissue bank, for another patient to be able to recover their sight by transplanting it.

Yesterday, Wednesday 2, was National Organ Donor Day, and the Andalucian Health Service (SAS), wanted to remind the population of the importance of donating tissues, as in in the case of this cornea, that can allow people who have lost their vision to recover partially or completely, and enjoy a fuller life.

Tissue donation is traditionally less well-known than organ donation, but sill is no less important, and in actual fact, they are done much more often than organ transplants, according to the Junta de Andalucia.

In Andalucia, even during the 2020 period of the pandemic, it is reported that more than 5,000 patients have received the implantation of some type of tissue, with 473 patients receiving a corneal transplant, 4,751 bone implants have been performed on 3,406 patients, 26 heart valve transplants, seven blood vessel transplants, nine skin transplants, and 162 amniotic membrane implants.

Most donated tissues are taken from deceased persons who have agreed for their tissues to be donated, including bones, tendons, and cartilages (osteotendinous), along with corneas, heart valves, skin, and the white part of the eyeball – sclera.

Also donated from living persons can be semen, ovarian tissue, and amniotic membrane (thin outer layer that covers the placenta), but this medical milestone in Spain with the donation of a cornea from a living person is unique, while Andalucia has registered this year already a total of 133 organ donations, and 45 tissue donations, which will be distributed for transplant operations among the eight provinces of Andalucia.

___________________________________________________________

The Euro Weekly News is running a campaign to help reunite Brits in Spain with their family and friends by capping the costs of PCR tests for travel. Please help us urge the government to cap costs at https://euroweeklynews.com/2021/04/16/ewn-champions-the-rights-of-brits-in-spain-to-see-loved-ones-again/

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.