Italian hospitals expand organ donation with cornea and heart‑stopped procedures

A 70‑year‑old patient in Militello, Sicily, consented to donate her corneas after death. The tissues were recovered by the hospital’s intensive‑care unit, coordinated with the regional transplant centre and sent to the Veneto Eye Bank for evaluation and possible transplant.

At the Ceccarini Hospital in Riccione, Emilia‑Romagna, clinicians performed the region’s first donation after circulatory death, extracting kidneys using normothermic regional perfusion. The operation involved intensive‑care, surgery, radiology and transplant teams and the organs were transferred to another centre for transplantation. Both cases illustrate the strengthening of Italy’s organ‑donation network and the adoption of advanced retrieval techniques.