Transplant Network, Donors on the Rise but Few Specialists

An initial assessment of this year's transplants in Sardinia provides a comforting picture, but once again, if we consider the number of donors and the resulting number of operations on the island's patients, the difficulties of a health system suffering from a shortage of doctors and operators emerge.

Looking at the numbers, these first five months of 2025 have gone very well : 43 donors have been reported, plus 2 DCDs (controlled donors, i.e. those who are expected to go into cardiac arrest after the suspension of ventilatory support), while a year ago there were 35.

As for opposition to donation, it goes from 16 in 2024 (45.7%) to 11 in 2025 (25.6%). The difference between the donors used is even more marked – 24 (against 11 last year) which leads, in a hypothetical projection for millions of people, to 65.6 reported donors and 36.9 donors used, a figure that places us in sixth place after Tuscany, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont and Marche. Again: a great step forward has also been made in overall organ transplants, which go from 19 to 28. In particular, 4 heart transplants were performed (1 in 2024); 11 liver transplants (there were 7), 13 kidney transplants (there were 11 last year).