Kyoto University Hospital has successfully completed the world’s first simultaneous lung and liver transplant from living donors, according to a statement released on Monday. The groundbreaking operation took place on November 15, 2023, and involved a boy under the age of 10 who received part of his parents’ lungs and part of his grandfather’s liver. The patient, who hails from the Kanto region of Japan, has made an impressive recovery and was able to walk without the need for an oxygen tank just two and a half months after the surgery. He was discharged from the hospital and returned home on Friday, along with his parents and grandfather.
This achievement is particularly significant because there have previously been no cases in Japan of simultaneous lung and liver transplants from living donors due to a scarcity of such donors, the university hospital explained. The successful procedure has now opened up new treatment possibilities for patients suffering from similar genetic disorders. Hiroshi Date, a professor at Kyoto University Hospital who performed the operation, expressed, “We were able to open up a new therapeutic option for patients.” The operation represents a major advancement in medical science that could have far-reaching implications for future transplant surgeries.
