Japanese Doctors Perform World’s First Living Donor Lung Transplant on COVID-19 Patient

A COVID-19 patient in Japan received the world’s first lung transplant from living donors.

Receiving a lung tissue transplant from her son and her husband, the patient underwent an 11-hour operation at Kyoto University Hospital to receive her transplant last Wednesday.

The woman who underwent the operation contracted COVID-19 late last year. According to Kyoto University Hospital, he spent months on a life support machine that acted as an artificial lung, because his was no longer working. It is expected to recover from last week’s operation in a few months.

As is the case around the world, waiting lists for deceased organ donor lung transplants are very long in Japan.

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Dr. Hiroshi Date, who led the operation, said in a statement that the success of this living donor transplant may provide optimism among others suffering from severe lung damage caused by the virus. “I think there is a lot of hope for this treatment in the sense that it creates a new option,” the thoracic surgeon told Kyodo News.

(LOOK the Nippon TV News 24 Japan story about the operation below.)

Featured Image: Kyoto University Hospital

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