WORLD NEWS – BRAZIL: In Brasília, 35-year-old architect Luís Perilo has been selected for an extraordinary and exceptionally rare five-organ transplant — stomach, pancreas, liver, intestine and kidney — a surgical undertaking that places transplantation squarely at the center of his fight for life. The operation, using all organs from a single donor, is being presented as a technical and emotional milestone because one-donor multi-organ grafts can lower the risk of rejection and streamline the complex immunological challenge of replacing multiple failing systems at once.
Perilo endured four years on waiting lists, surviving on artificial nutrition, repeated hemodialysis and prolonged hospital stays while his body struggled under the weight of thrombophilia, a clotting disorder that triggered multi-organ failure beginning when he was just 20. Medical teams describe his physical condition as fragile yet resolute; family members note he kept up exercises to retain the strength necessary for surgery. The transplant represents the culmination of a long, precarious medical journey and the coordination of surgical and critical-care specialists.
The case has wider significance: this kind of multi-organ transplantation was only incorporated into Brazil’s public health system (SUS) in February 2025. Last year the country performed about 30,000 transplants in total, but procedures like Perilo’s remain vanishingly rare — only two comparable operations were recorded nationwide — underscoring both the technical difficulty and the limited availability of such lifesaving interventions.
Beyond the operating theater, the story highlights the crucial role of organ donation policy and family consent under Brazilian law. Medical teams, family and patient are portrayed with respect for their endurance and collaboration. The transplantation offers not just a personal chance at recovery but a public reminder of the life-or-death impact of donor decisions and the evolving capabilities of Brazil’s transplant programs.
