Parents save son – lungs-live transplantation gurgled
"The decision was immediately clear to us," the mother of marius, who is now twelve years old, said on wednesday at the hannover medical school (MHH). There was the operation of several hours in april, 15 surgeons were involved.
According to the MHH, this is germany’s first living lung transplant from two donors. The boy suffers from cystic fibrosis, a disease of the arteries in which excessive bodily fluids clog the organs.
According to the MHH, the transplantation was necessary because there are not enough donor lungs available from dead people. "In cystic fibrosis, transplants must always be performed on both sides," explained gregor warnecke, who heads the MHH transplant department for heart, thoracic, transplant and fab surgery. Only one of five lung lobes is removed from a healthy person so as not to impair him too much. Therefore, two donors with matching blood groups always had to be found for one recipient.
Outside germany, lungs are more often transplanted from living donors, especially in japan and south korea. Due to the religious culture there, it is not customary to donate organs after death.
