Transplants in the State of Rio increased by 43% between 2016 and 2017



[ad_1]

Monday, March 6, 2017, midnight. A call right now is not very common and can often be bad news. However, for the retired Marcelo Silva dos Santos, 48, this meant a rebirth. That day, the resident of São Gonçalo, in the Rio Metropolitan Area, knew that he would be doing the long-awaited heart transplant for four years. These are stories that motivate and give hope to about two thousand people waiting for such surgery in the State Transplant Program (TEP) of Rio de Janeiro.

– I was very shaken by the disease. There came a time when I had trouble brushing my teeth. But I have always trusted God. One day, my time would come. When they called me, I did not believe it. The donation of organs is a rewarding and beautiful act – he says, who has suffered for four years from dilated cardiomyopathy, a progressive and unhealed disease in which the heart becomes large and unable to pump blood towards the body.

the figures recorded last year explain Marcelo's confidence: there were 1,607 transplants, including 965 Korean, performed in the state, an index of 43% higher than that of 2016. And even more: the number of actual donors in 2017 also exceeded the previous year – were 247 against 226.

In addition, 2018 also brings numbers encouraging. January, for example, had 129 organ transplants and corneas. This is the best mark compared to the same month of previous years since the program began in 2010. Heart procedures saved 15 lives. In less than seven months, the number has already exceeded annual records since 2010. In May of this year, five transplants were done in Rio, a brand new one just a month away.

Life After Loss ]

Program coordinator, Gabriel Teixeira, explains that patients with an indication for transplantation should seek one of the 48 centers accredited by the state, where they are valued and inserted into the system. From then on, the person becomes a candidate to receive an organ. Gabriel comments that there are few contraindications to being a donor, such as being HIV-positive or having active tuberculosis:

 Gabriel Teixeira coordinates the transplant program.
Gabriel Teixeira coordinates the transplant program. Some numbers, such as heart transplants, may seem weak, but to get an idea, in 2017, 12 cardiac procedures were performed. In 2016, this difference is even greater, since we only have nine. That is to say, in one month only, we achieved one-third of what was done in 2017.

Of all the necessary decisions after the child's death, the choice of organ donation was the easiest for Valéria Albuquerque's lawyer. João Rodrigo died at the age of 16, after a cardiac arrest, in December 2015. He suffered from Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare and serious disease that affects the nervous system. The pain of the loss of the only son did not allow Valeria to abandon the act of solidarity.

 Valeria authorizes the donation of the organs of the only son, who died two years ago at the age of 16 years.
Valeria authorizes the donation of the organs of the only son, who died two years ago at 16 years of age. Photo: Emily Almeida

– My husband and I thought of no other possibility than the gift. We do not even need to think. I'm sure it would also be João Rodrigo's decision, if you could comment. It is a matter of solidarity and relief in the hearts, seeing your son's life continue in another person.

The denial of family is 30%

challenges is to decrease the negative rate of the family, which in the state is about 30%. Last year, more than 230 bodies were no longer donated.

The success of the transplant program depends fundamentally on the solidarity of the families, in a moment of suffering, in addition to the work of the hospital program and structure teams. Last week, doctors at the Bonsucesso Federal Hospital (HFB), one of the state's best kidney transplant centers, suspended proceedings due to the lack of medical facilities. A medicine to prevent rejection of organs. The unit leadership, however, denies the complaint and says that she got bottles of the drug loaned with other hospitals.

Authorization of the family allows the procedure

Tissues such as cornea, bone, skin and heart valves may be given in case of encephalic death and resulting from cardiac arrest, in contrast to organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys, among others, which can only be brain death case donors. After collection, up to six hours after death, they can be properly preserved up to 14 days, which facilitates surgeries.

The secretary has another success to celebrate. After ten years, a lung was again captured in Rio, at the Adão Pereira Nunes public hospital, in the Baixada Fluminense, in December 2017, and sent to São Paulo.

The program provides a site where people want to declare themselves donors can sign up, share the initiative and print the donor card. Although it is not a legal document, since only direct relatives can authorize the donation, the registry aims to encourage families to discuss the issue. For more information, the secretary offers Dial-Transplant at number 155.

[ad_2]
Source link