Yasmina Kattou, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
This Thursday, while it is the national day of reflection on organ donation, did you know that it was possible to donate your tissues, arteries or even your bones? Contrary to what people think, it is possible to make these donations and it saves lives.
Today is National Organ Donation Day. Are you one of those for? 80% of French people are in favor of it, but only 47% have actually shared their position on the subject with a loved one. However, this exchange is vital. When the subject is not discussed, in doubt, relatives refuse. One out of three samples is thus prevented according to the Biomedicine Agency. However, for each donor, five to seven lives are saved (5,550 people were saved thanks to donations in 2022). But did you know that you don’t just give your heart, your kidneys or your lungs by being donors? It is also possible to donate tissues, arteries, or even bones.
8,000 tissue grafts performed in 2022
Giving your veins, your skin or even your cornea of your eye, in addition to a heart or a lung, is possible and it also saves lives. Tissue transplantation is useful for several pathologies, says Professor François Kerbaul, director of sampling and transplantation at the biomedicine agency. “They allow the corneas, in particular, for some of our fellow citizens to recover their sight. They allow certain young children to regain normal heart function, thanks to the transplant of heart valves. They allow our burn victims hospitalized in intensive care to treat their severe burns with epidermal grafts”, explains the specialist at the microphone of Europe 1.
The bones, for their part, allow bone reconstruction after a serious accident, or to treat children with bone cancer. But the donations are not numerous enough to meet the needs of the sick. In total last year nearly 8,000 tissue transplants were performed, 97% were corneal transplants.