Conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine do not stop bone marrow donations and transplants.
There were five samplings of life-saving cells coordinated by Italy despite the logistical difficulties connected to the international crises : four were carried out in Israel , in the aftermath of the attack on 7 October, destined for as many Italian patients, while at the end September a bone marrow donation from Sardinia had reached Kiev for the first exchange of this kind between the two countries since the start of the war .
These are the data released by the National Transplant Center.
In the case involving the island, the bone marrow collection took place in Cagliari thanks to a voluntary donor, the sample was transported and delivered to Kiev for a hematopoietic stem cell transplant on a Ukrainian patient .
As far as Israel is concerned, there were four bone marrow collections scheduled in the first days of the conflict from Israeli donors and intended for Italian patients suffering from serious blood diseases, explains the CNT. The first donation was successfully completed just 24 hours after the attacks, overcoming the logistical and communication criticalities that affected flight plans, airports and travel in those hours.
The Italian courier of the Civil Protection Operations Unit, which on behalf of the IBMDR Registry is responsible for the transport of haematopoietic stem cell samples, was already in Tel Aviv when the conflict broke out; through the Italian Embassy in Israel a seat was guaranteed on one of the very few scheduled flights departing at that time. The other three donations followed one another between 10 and 11 October .
There are a total of seven donations managed in the last 12 months by the IBMDR Registry in emergency conditions .
GROWING NUMBERS – In addition to the four donations from Israel and the one to Ukraine, in April a donation made in Turin was delivered to Moscow via Turkey, while a year ago it was a Russian donor who saved a patient being treated in Calabria .
And the numbers are growing: up to 30 September there were 299 actual donations in Italy, in 4 cases out of 10 the withdrawals were intended for foreign patients, both in Europe and around the world.
Compared to last year, both actual donations (approximately +30%) and the number of cells exported (+25%) are growing, "a sign of an ever-increasing quality in our Registry in terms of typed donors", underline the Cnt.
New registrations in the IBMDR Donor Registry are also increasing: 2,888 new donors were recruited in September , joining the over 490 thousand potential active donors already typed , of which over 20 thousand were recruited this year alone .
(Unioneonline/vl)
