transplant

Birth made possible by grandmother's donation, second time at Hospital Clínic

Living organ donation from mother's sister in 2020 made historic birth possible at Hospital Clínic

Crossover transplant involving team from Sant Joan de Déu and Clínic Hospitals is first of its kind in Spain 

Operation on teenager first of its kind in Catalonia and Spain

Some 1,296 organ operations carried out last year, 12% more than in 2018 and 53% more than in 2013

Operated on at Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron, 10-year-old is disease's longest survivor and sole triple transplant recipient

Center near Barcelona provides 30-year-old man with device to replace failed ventricles while he waits for conventional transplant

The first bone marrow transplant in Spain was performed in Barcelona, by doctors from Sant Pau Hospital. It was on the 22^nd of May 1976 and the patient was a 13-year-old girl who suffered from acute leukaemia. Since then, 2,939 operations of this type have been carried out in Catalonia. Director of the Haematology Service at Sant Pau, Jordi Sierra, stated that 500 bone marrow transplants take place in Catalonia each year and that Sant Pau alone performed 130 operations of this kind in 2015, 23 of them on children. Bone marrow transplant survival rate varies from 70% in a young patient who is in an early stage of the disease and receives a donation from a relative, to 30% in the case of a patient over 60 years old and in an advanced stage who has a transplant from an unrelated donor, explained Sierra. However, thanks to new therapies, transplants might not be necessary for cancerous diseases in the future.

The French defender has signed a season long deal, with the option of a further year. Abidal returns to the football club where he played from 2000-2002 before signing for Lyon. Abidal played for Barça between 2007 and 2013. The Catalan club and the player announced in late May he will not continue playing with FC Barcelona in the next season. Abidal’s touching farewell took place in early June at the Camp Nou, after he had played the last 15 minutes of the FC Barcelona vs Malaga game.

FC Barcelona player Éric Abidal is once again available for Barça’s first team selection after recovering from a liver transplant last April. The Frenchman received the wonderful news after Thursday’s training session. In fact, since the 19th December, Abidal has been training with the rest of Barça players. In early October, he went with FC Barcelona physio Emili Ricart to spend several days in the Catalan mountains at the Vall d’Aran County, in the heart of the Pyrenees, to follow a specific training programme.

A better use of body organs has led to an increase in transplant rates in Catalonia despite a lower number of donors. In 2012, 872 organ transplants were made in Catalan hospitals and waiting lists were reduced by 4.6%. Lung transplants increased by 35% and heart donors increased by 18.7%.

The FC Barcelona’s defender is recovering from his liver transplant and he is doing specific training work at the Val d’Aran County, which hosts a National Park. During his stay, where he will be following a specific plan, the French defender will be combining aerobic work with activities on the field, which will start to include exercises with the ball.