In 2021 in Italy 188 organ donors were older than 80, representing 13,6% of all donors. In addition, 461 were aged between 65 and 79: in total almost 50% were aged 65 or over, with an average age of 60,4%.
Before this transplant the oldest organ donor ever in Italy had also been a woman, deceased at 97 years and 7 months old a couple of weeks ago, sharing this distinction with four other people of the same age who had died in 2003, 2008, 2018 and 2019.
Recently medical research has seen an increased interest in data regarding liver transplant, showing that in various cases livers can last for longer than 100 years across a donor’s and a recipient’s lives. Not all organs age at the same pace, and livers have strong regenerative capabilities; some have suggested that a person’s age shouldn’t automatically be used to discard organs, which used to be a common practice, because of these differences and this new evidence.
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In 2021 in Italy 188 organ donors were older than 80, representing 13,6% of all donors. In addition, 461 were aged between 65 and 79: in total almost 50% were aged 65 or over, with an average age of 60,4%.
Before this transplant the oldest organ donor ever in Italy had also been a woman, deceased at 97 years and 7 months old a couple of weeks ago, sharing this distinction with four other people of the same age who had died in 2003, 2008, 2018 and 2019.
Recently medical research has seen an increased interest in data regarding liver transplant, showing that in various cases livers can last for longer than 100 years across a donor’s and a recipient’s lives. Not all organs age at the same pace, and livers have strong regenerative capabilities; some have suggested that a person’s age shouldn’t automatically be used to discard organs, which used to be a common practice, because of these differences and this new evidence.