Record-breaking transplants but Schillaci calls for equal standards from North to South. And the Vatican relaunches xenotransplantation

The numbers of organ donations and transplants performed in Italia hit a new record in 2025, thanks also to a national donation rate that settled at 30.2 donors per million people (pmp), a level that allows our country to be among the top in Europe. These are some of the main figures emerging from the National Transplant Centre's preliminary report, presented in Rome by Health Minister Orazio Schillaci and NTC Director Giuseppe Feltrin, on the occasion of the Transplantology Network's States General.
The other side of the coin, on the negative side, is the growing reluctance to express one's 'yes' to donate when the electronic identity card is issued in the municipality. With an opposition rate of 40.1% in 2025, up almost 4 percentage points from 36.3% in 2024 - compared to 59.9% of consensus. A hard core of 'no's' that is the telltale sign of a distrust that is still alive with respect to the gesture of donation and which unfortunately could be affected, in the face of the general excellence of the system as witnessed by the data, by the latest tragic episodes such as the death of little Domenico at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples.

And it is he who wished to recall Health Minister Orazio Schillaci: 'We have opened this edition still marked by grief for the death of little Domenico Caliendo, a tragic event that has deeply moved the entire national community,' he said. 'What happened is a fact of unquestionable and singular gravity that must be fully clarified in order to make the transplant system even more solid. I believe that it is important to rediscover, also through this presentation, the spirit of gratuitousness and solidarity that animates the transplant system, and to return to conveying the message that every time there is a donation, there is real hope for life. Today more than ever,' he noted, 'we must have confidence in our health workers and the transplant network to continue to maintain the record numbers that have been recorded in recent years'. Then, the call for equal standards for all and throughout the country. "Standards that must become the heritage of all healthcare facilities in which transplants are performed, from the North to the South. And we can no longer admit differences,' he warned.

In a worldwide context of general shortage, meanwhile, comes the presentation at the Vatican of a new version of the document of the Pontifical Academy for Life, headed by Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 'The prospect of xenotransplantation - Scientific aspects and ethical considerations'. Xenotransplantation, i.e. the transfer of cells, tissues or organs from one animal species to another, in particular from pigs to humans, to alleviate the chronic shortage of human organs, "is a possible alternative with regard to the need for transplants. The US has authorised three xenotransplantation studies for humans,' said Emanuele Cozzi, a lecturer in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and Public Health and head of Transplantation Immunology at the Hospital-University of Padua. Although 'for the next five years,' he stressed, 'the only organ that can save us is the human organ'.

Once again, organ donations hit a new record: in 2025 there were 2,164 organ donations (+3.2% compared to 2024), from 3,293 reports of potential donors from resuscitations (+3.2%). Organ removal resulted in 4,697 transplants, 55 more than the previous year (+1.2%). For both donations and transplants, these are the highest numbers ever in Italia, the National Transplant Centre emphasises.

But there is still a great deal of work to be done, as the minister pointed out, stressing that 'today in Italia we have around 8,000 people waiting for a transplant and we must give these patients concrete answers'.