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baltimore (ap) — johns hopkins surgeons transplanted a half-dozen kidneys simultaneously, an operation believed to be the first of its kind, hospital officials announced tuesday. the transplants conducted saturday were made possible when a so-called altruistic donor, who was willing to donate to anyone, was found to be a match for one of six transplant candidates. five of the candidates had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with their particular friend or relative, but a match for another of the six. the 10-hour surgeries used six operating rooms and nine surgical teams. "all 12 are doing great, the six kidneys are working well," said dr. robert montgomery, director of hopkins' transplant center and head of the transplant team. the six-way transplant follows a quintuple transplant performed in 2006 at the hospital and several triple transplants. last week, doctors at chicago's northwestern memorial hospital performed simultaneous transplants of four kidneys. most kidney transplants use organs taken from people who have died, but doctors prefer organs from live donors because the success rates are higher. the donors and recipients in the six-way transplant were matched using a living-donor system developed at johns hopkins. montgomery has advocated a wider system of connecting altruistic donors, transplant candidates and incompatible but willing donors to increase the number of available organs. randy bolten, whose brother is president bush's chief of staff, josh bolten, was among the donors. he couldn't donate a kidney to his wife, jeanne heise, but he was a match for another recipient. heise, who has suffered from kidney disease for more than 30 years, was about to go on dialysis when the chain of transplants became possible. "we want to spread the word about this sort of group surgery and living organ donation," heise said in a statement issued by the national kidney foundation of northern california. "the waiting list for a kidney is very long and too many people die while waiting. with this group procedure, more and more people can beat kidney disease and live long productive lives." the united network for organ sharing knows of no other six-way transplant, spokeswoman amanda claggett said. she added that so-called paired donations are still very rare. more than 252,000 kidney transplants have been performed in the united states since unos started keeping data in 1988; 87,000 of the kidneys came from living donors. there have been only 301 transplants performed through so-called paired kidney exchange, including 122 in 2007, claggett said. she said more than 75,000 people are waiting for kidney transplants and 4,352 died while waiting for a kidney last year. source
another item off of craigslist.
many people in need of a transplant struggle to receive just one organ. but a photographer from khaira dona village, in the northwest state of punjab, india, is now living with five kidneys. since 2004, jaswant has undergone three transplant surgeries to replace his failed kidneys. with each procedure, the 33 year-old gained a new kidney from a family member, while the non-functioning organs remained in his body. during kidney transplants, the failed organ is often left in the body to reduce the risk of death and complications that can result from removing it. yet only an exceptional handful of such transplant recipients can claim to have had the procedure multiple times, like jaswant. determined to “make it this time,” jaswant received his latest kidney from his 55 year-old mother more than a month ago. jaswant had his first transplant surgery at age 25. the organ, which was donated by his older sister, functioned for more than a year. “however, my body rejected the kidney once i stopped post-operation medication because of financial constraints,” he said. two years later, jaswant received another kidney, this time from his younger sister. after 14 months, he was placed back on dialysis, after his body rejected the organ of yet another family member. while discussing his latest transplant, jaswant cited his family’s “determination to see me live,” adding, “this time my mother, 55, gave me her bean shaped organ.” jaswant’s family makes a modest living—his brother is a driver and his father sells milk. doctors from india’s national kidney hospital were so impressed by the young photographer’s story and the determination of his family, that they performed jaswant’s most recent transplant surgery for free. rajesh agrawal, the transplant surgeon who conducted the procedure along with doctor’s suresh aggarawal and sanjay mittal; said jaswant is not the first person in this part of india to undergo multiple kidney transplants. “the case is second in the region, where a third kidney transplant surgery has been done successfully. the earlier three transplants in the country were conducted at hyderabad, lucknow and delhi,” doctor agrawal said. source
(cnn) -- in what is being heralded as a "first-ever procedure," surgeons removed a healthy kidney through a donor's vagina, the johns hopkins medical center has announced. although the procedure has been previously done to extract cancerous and nonfunctioning kidneys that threatened a patient's health, the january 29 surgery was the first time it was done for donation purposes, the center said in a news release issued monday. "the kidney was successfully removed and transplanted into the donor's niece, and both patients are doing fine," dr. robert montgomery, chief of transplant surgery at johns hopkins, said in the release. the surgery is considered less invasive and could pave the way for an increase in organ donations, it added. "removing the kidney through a natural opening should hasten the patient's recovery and provide a better cosmetic result," montgomery said. he told cnn on tuesday, "we want to make it easier for people to donate, to have less impact on their lives, [be] in hospital a shorter amount of time and get back to their lives quicker." don't miss the woman was chosen to be the first donor to undergo the procedure because a previous hysterectomy enabled doctors to operate without a uterus obstructing their efforts, he added. the three-hour procedure typically allows the donor to return home within 24 hours. the more traditional surgery requires a 5- to 6-inch incision through the abdominal wall and generally is followed by two or three days of hospitalization. "if you asked our patient, she said it was like getting a tooth removed. she was walking that night and left the next day," montgomery said. the procedure is done by inserting "wand-like cameras and tools" through small incisions in the abdomen and navel. doctors then insert a hollow tube through the vagina with a bag at the end. once the kidney is cut loose, surgeons use video from the cameras to guide them as they maneuver the bag around the organ, place it in the tube and pull it out through the vaginal opening, montgomery said. a kidney weighs approximately one pound and is roughly the size of a clenched hand. in an effort to ensure a more sterile procedure, the vagina is treated with betadine, a sterilizing solvent commonly applied during surgery. but some physicians wonder how clean the procedure can actually be. "it's good to take such [sterilization] measures," said dr. jihad kaouk, director of laparoscopic and robotic surgery at the cleveland clinic. "but the tube touched the vagina. and the bag touched the tube. and the bag touched the kidney" he added, "delivering a kidney from the vagina, which is not sterile -- is it a potential risk or a real risk? we'll find out now." kaouk also expressed concern over the quality of the kidney once it has been squeezed into a tube. "the concept of minimizing incisions and decreasing pain after surgery is always a good idea, but we should always check at what price," he said. source
a us man divorcing his wife is demanding that she return the kidney he donated to her or pay him $1.5m (£1m) in compensation. dr richard batista told reporters that he decided to go public because he was frustrated at the slow pace of divorce negotiations with his estranged wife. he said he had not only given his heart to his wife, dawnell, but donated his kidney to save her life. but divorce lawyers say a donated organ is not a marital asset to be divided. dr batista married dawnell in 1990 and donated the kidney to her in 2001. she filed for divorce in 2005 and a settlement has still not been reached. he told reporters at his lawyer's office in long island, new york, that going public was a last resort. "there is no deeper pain that you can ever express than betrayal from somebody who you love and devoted your life to," he said. he said he had been prevented from seeing their three children for extended periods. "i felt humiliated, betrayed, disrespected and disregarded for me as a person, as a man, as a husband, as a father." dr batista's lawyer, dominic barbara, said his client was "asking for the value of the kidney" that he gave his wife. a lawyer for mrs batista said: "the facts aren't as represented by dr batista. we will be addressing the issues before the judge within the next few days." source
