Two multiple-organ transplants were reported in the press last month.
In mid May, 53-year-old Forrest Powers of Chicago was released from the University of Chicago Hospitals 12 weeks after becoming the sixth person in the United States to receive a transplanted heart, kidney, and pancreas.
In a 13-hour procedure, the cardiac transplant team performed the heart transplant first. A second surgical team then transplanted the kidney and pancreas. All three organs came from the same donor.
The hospital reported that Powers, who has diabetes, had been awake, alert, and breathing on his own since the day after the operation and that the donated organs were performing normally.
The University of Chicago Hospitals performed the same combination of procedures in May 1995 in a 37-year-old woman.
Reuters news service reported that a 13-year-old boy received four new organs last month after a five-year wait. Daniel Canal of Wheaton, Maryland, originally needed a new small intestine. At age 8, he was placed on the waiting list at the University of Pittsburgh. His condition deteriorated, and he moved in order to become eligible for a transplant at the University of Miami. During a 12-hour operation, Daniel finally received a new small intestine, liver, pancreas, and stomach. Reuters reported that about a week after the operation, Daniel was moved out of intensive care and his condition was upgraded to fair.
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