The kidneys of a deceased one-year-old have been transplanted into a four-year-old and an eight-year-old so that they can avoid a lifetime of dialysis, Taipei Veterans General Hospital said yesterday.
In August last year, a four-year-old girl surnamed Lee (李) and an eight-year-old girl surnamed Hsu (許) each received a kidney from the 15-month-old, who only weighed 9.8kg.
He is Taiwan’s lightest-ever deceased organ donor, and it was the first recorded time in Taiwan that two kidneys from one donor were successfully transplanted into two children, the hospital said.
Photo: CNA
Lee was the youngest patient on hemodialysis in Taiwan after experiencing septic shock following a spontaneous rupture of the stomach three days after her birth, Pediatric Surgery Division director Tsai Hsin-lin (蔡昕霖) said.
Lee, who had severe abdominal adhesions from several gastrointestinal perforations, could not undergo peritoneal dialysis, but had been on long-term hemodialysis, he said, adding that she had a high risk of rejecting the new organ.
Before she was one month old, Hsu had acute kidney failure following surgery for a congenital heart condition, he said, adding that she later developed chronic kidney disease and had been on dialysis for three years.
The girls have severe developmental delays due to being on dialysis, so the transplants were the best solution, Tsai said.
However, it has been challenging, as there are few young deceased donors, and the kidneys were only about 5.8cm in length, he said.
Between 2005 and this year, there have only been 15 deceased kidney donors aged six or younger, Tsai said.
Only eight kidneys from four of them were transplanted into children aged 12 or younger, while the others were transplanted into adults, he said.
Last summer, the hospital seized the rare opportunity, he said, adding that a team of 20 healthcare professionals spent about 18 hours on the retrieval of the kidneys and the transplant operations.
Hsu’s new kidney quickly began functioning and she no longer needed dialysis, whereas Lee needed 12 plasma exchanges and medication over a month before she no longer needed dialysis, the hospital said.
A follow-up exam about a year after the surgeries showed that their kidneys are growing, it said.
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