Surgeons at Chicago Hospital perform one of the world’s first double lung transplants on a COVID patient using organs from a donor who previously tested positive for the virus.
- The patient, a health worker in Illinois in his 60s, tested positive for COVID-19 in May 2020
- He became so ill that he was placed on subsistence and transferred to Northwestern Medicine in February, where he was placed on the lung transplant list.
- Within a week, he was linked to a donor who recovered from the virus before dying from an unrelated cause
- Surgeons performed a lung biopsy on the donor organs and tested lung fluid to make sure the donor had completely removed the virus.
- The operation was successful and is thought to be one of the world’s first ‘Covid to Covid’ lung transplants
A Chicago hospital says doctors have successfully performed one of the world’s first double lung transplants with a COVID-19 patient using the organs of a donor who has recovered from the disease.
Surgeons at Northwestern Medicine said the recipient was diagnosed with the coronavirus last year and eventually became so ill that he was life-supporting and needed a transplant.
The lungs come from a donor who previously tested positive for the virus, but experienced only mild symptoms – and recovered – before dying from an unrelated cause.
Doctors said earlier that the risky surgeries could become a standard procedure for COVID-19 patients who are on the verge of death.
A man from Illinois in his 60s became so ill from COVID-19 that he was placed on life support and transferred to Northwestern Medicine in February, where he was placed on the lung transplant list (left). Within a week he was linked to a donor who recovered from the virus before dying from an unrelated cause (right)
Surgeons performed a lung biopsy on the donor organs and tested lung fluid to make sure the donor had completely removed the virus. Pictured: a team of surgeons at Northwestern Medicine
“This is a milestone for lung transplantation,” Dr Ankit Bharat, associate professor of Northwestern surgery who performed the transplant, said in a news release.
‘To date, 30 million Americans have had COVID-19 and many of them are registered organ donors.
“If we say ‘no’ to them just because they have had COVID-19 in the past, we will drastically reduce the donor pool and there is already a huge demand and supply demand.”
The patient, an Illinois man in his 60s, who is a health worker, first contracted coronavirus in May 2020.
He eventually became so ill that he was on a extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.
It pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, causing the heart and lungs to rest.
In February 2021, he is transferred to Northwestern Medicine, where he is placed on the transplant list.
Lung transplants are much more difficult for COVID-19 patients to undergo due to the severe damage the virus does to the organs.
In addition, doctors should wait until the virus cleanses the body, but make sure that the patient’s organs do not weaken.
On a national ranking system out of 100 that follows how sick transplant patients are, COVID-19 patients usually fall between 80 and 90.
Within a week, the patient is being treated with a donor who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past but has experienced mild symptoms.
He or she recovered from the illness before dying from an unknown cause. Because their lungs were not damaged by the virus, it made the organs useful. for transplantation.
However, there are risks associated with the lungs of a donor who has had the disease.
Last fall, a Michigan woman contracted a serious case of COVID-19 from the new set of lungs she received during a double lung transplant. Two months later she passed away.
To ensure that it did not occur in their patient, the Northwest team tested the donor’s lung fluid to make sure they had removed the virus and performed a lung biopsy.
“If the swab and lung fluid are removed from the virus and the lung biopsy confirms that there is no permanent damage to the lungs, we can have confidence in the quality of the donor lungs,” Bharat said.
‘Our first patient “COVID to COVID” received beautiful, healthy lungs and continues to recover at the optimal rate. ”
Since the pandemic began, Northwestern Medicine estimates that it has performed 14 double lung transplants on COVID-19 survivors, which they say is the most in the US
