A rare triple transplant, in which a Michigan grandfather received a new heart, liver, and kidney, has been performed at the University of Chicago Hospitals.
The 13½-hour series of transplants were performed on May 7 on 64-year-old Kent Slater of Rockford, Michigan. The hospital reported on May 26 that Mr. Slater had "recovered well" and was being discharged from the hospital.
The procedure marks what is believed to be only the second time a heart, liver, and kidney have been transplanted together. The first recipient of that combination of organs survived four months after transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh in 1989.
According to the University of Chicago Hospitals, because Mr. Slater was infected with hepatitis C, he was eligible to receive organs only from a donor with hepatitis C. All three organs came from the same donor, and Mr. Slater had been on a waiting list for the organs since February 12.
The first operation, the heart transplant, began about 8:30 a.m. and was led by Valluvan Jeevanandum, MD. At 3:30 p.m., Michael Millis, MD, and his team began the liver transplant, and the same team performed the kidney transplant, from 7:30 p.m. until about 10 p.m.
"I think we were all a little stunned by how smoothly it went," Dr. Millis said. "It added some tension at first, knowing that we were performing a multiple-organ transplant on a man who had just had a heart transplant, but the heart remained strong and steady throughout."
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