Improvements in healthcare, especially thanks to the development of dialysis services, have managed to extend the life of chronic kidney patients. “The good quality of dialysis systems has improved our life expectancy,” says Jose Manuel Crespo Cuadra, president of the Andalusian Alcer Federation, which brings together patient and family associations in the fight against kidney disease. Today, Thursday, they celebrate World Kidney Day with the aim of raising awareness and informing society for the prevention of chronic kidney failure. In Spain, according to updated data from the Spanish Society of Nephrology, more than 45,000 people suffer from chronic kidney failure and there could be some 2,200,000 people who do not know they have the disease. According to Alcer, 9.
The kidneys filter 200 liters of blood every day, regulate blood pressure, control anemia and promote bone calcification by activating vitamin D, functions that are altered when there is kidney disease. When the kidney fails, it is necessary to replace this process by performing dialysis. Before dialysis centers were limited to large population centers, this meant a significant effort in displacement. The Andalusian Health Service has managed to better capillarize these services, either through the appearance of new centers or through the establishment of agreements with private companies.
As a result of this development, there is a generation of older kidney patients with certain needs or dependencies in order to have quality of life. “The most important thing is usually psychological support due to the harsh conditions of the disease, the need to have to undergo dialysis several times a week,” says Crespo. This has led patient groups to offer this support, with the “pride” of having been able to develop all the proposed projects, managing to have a network of more than 70 professionals throughout Andalusia. That has been one of his challenges, now overcome.
The other objective they set is more complex. Half of the patients with chronic kidney disease are waiting for a transplant. Most of them aspire to be able to receive an organ from a deceased donor. But, as in so many other cases, the significant drop in traffic accidents has led to a drop in the usual average number of organ transplants.
This has led to a change in the kidney donor profile. Before, it was more common to have organs from people between 25 and 40; now the average points from 40 to 60 years. For this reason, although kidney patients from all over the world celebrate their world day today, these groups of patients offer with gratitude the world transplant day. All this has redirected his desires. Patients aspire to witness a development in the coming years of living transplants and crossover transplants. The former, thanks to improvements in surgical procedures, especially the laparoscopic approach, are becoming more frequent.
The second type of transplant also seems to be living its best moment. Six Spanish hospitals have begun this year to develop the first cross-donation program promoted by the National Transplant Organization. This option arises in cases in which a person willing to give a kidney to a loved one turns out to be incompatible. This same circumstance also occurs in another couple. In cases in which the donor of the first couple is compatible with the recipient of the second, the option of a crossed transplant is considered.
