“A transplant team is trained and they are very prepared. I would do a transplant both in Galicia and in another community “

Head of General Surgery of Hospital Xeral since 1981 and full member of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Galicia

Q_ When did your training begin?

A_ I started my training in the year 1970 I did the specialty at the Puerta del Hierro Clinic, where I was a member of the team, then when the Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid opens, he made me Head of Section and in 1981 I became Head of Service to the Xeral Hospital of Vigo.

Q_ What cases have been the ones that have impacted the most in all these years?

A_Talk about everything but probably has been the esophageal surgery that has worried me the most and called me more attention to the endocrine surgery that is the one I dedicate the most to.

Q _ What are the medical advances that have most influenced surgery in recent years?

A_ There have been many, profound have been:

Laparoscopic surgery, medicine made in a team, that is, an integration of the different specialists for the treatment of children and also the important advances that have been made in the immunity that have allowed transplants.

Q_ Where is the team or the Spanish city most prepared when making a transplant?

A_ I believe that all the teams are at the same level, a transplant team is trained and they are very prepared. I would do a transplant both in Galicia and in another community such as Coruña, Barcelona or Murcia with the same guarantees.

Q_ Is there equality of donors in all the autonomous communities?

A_ No, that of the donors is another problem, it seems that in Galicia is where there are smaller donations.

Q_ Why do you think this is happening and what could be done to increase donations?

A_ It is probably from the conception of death that you have what you do.

This would be done by a mentalization and an information to the people: once an individual has died the organ is useless.

Q_ What is the most performed surgery in Vigo?

A_ Is all the surgery, only transplants are not done, the only transplant that is done in vigo is the bone marrow transplant, which technically is not the hardest is the easiest.

Q_ What would you say to students who are thinking of specializing in surgery?

A_ I would only say that surgery is a maximum requirement. Because not only do you have to know a lot of medicine, but you have to spend many hours in the operating room.

Q_ What do you think about the fear of patients when it comes to operating?

A_ Fear is a rational thing so the day someone says we have to operate and tell me that he is not afraid … I would not think rational.
The one who has the most fear if he has the accident of the surgeon, the one who will go through that and the stage of possession that a surgeon will operate to know the importance of fear.

You have to understand and listen to the patient when he says he has it because fear is a defense mechanism.

Vigo May 2018. By Ania Casal