Record Month At Policlinico San Matteo Spurs Complex heart And kidney Transplants
WORLD NEWS – ITALY: Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia marked a record month for transplantation activity, performing 10 kidney transplants in November using organs procured from multiple Italian regions. The surge included a highly complex, sequential transplant in which a patient received a heart transplant followed 24 hours later by a kidney transplant — a decision made after careful clinical reassessment and stabilization.
The kidney operation was initially postponed because the recipient remained hemodynamically unstable after cardiac surgery. The surgical team elected to delay the renal transplantation for 24 hours, a choice supported by continuous organ preservation using a hypothermic perfusion machine. That technology maintained the kidney in optimal condition during the wait; San Matteo, which introduced these perfusion systems into routine practice in Italy in 2009, credited the device with helping enable the double transplantation.
Between October and November the hospital facilitated seven multiorgan donations that made 20 transplants possible across the country. Hospital officials reported that all kidney recipients were in good clinical condition and were able to spend the Christmas period free from dialysis, underscoring the immediate impact of the expanded procurement and transplantation efforts. The patient who underwent back-to-back heart and kidney surgeries is recovering and scheduled for transfer to a cardiac rehabilitation unit.
The uptick in transplant activity at San Matteo comes amid broader regional trends: while more citizens in the Pavia province reportedly decline organ donation at identity card renewal, the hospital’s renal, cardiac, and pulmonary transplant programs have nonetheless increased their volume. The hospital’s experience with advanced organ preservation and multidisciplinary decision-making emerged as central to managing the most complex cases and maximizing the success of multiorgan transplantation this season.
Video originally published on 2025-12-31 05:16:17
