Covid patient in Japan receives world’s first lung transplant from living donor

Japan has recorded less than 500,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic

Mayank Aggarwal
Friday 09 April 2021 14:01 BST
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This combination of radiographs provided by Kyoto University Hospital shows the chest of a patient before the surgery, left, and after the surgery, right. Doctors in Kyoto University Hospital announced on 8 April 2021 that they have successfully performed the world’s first transplant of lung tissue from living donors to a patient with severe lung damage from Covid-19
This combination of radiographs provided by Kyoto University Hospital shows the chest of a patient before the surgery, left, and after the surgery, right. Doctors in Kyoto University Hospital announced on 8 April 2021 that they have successfully performed the world’s first transplant of lung tissue from living donors to a patient with severe lung damage from Covid-19 (Kyoto University Hospital via AP)

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A female Covid-19 patient in Japan has received the world’s first lung transplant from a living donor and doctors say she could return to her normal life in about three months.

The operation on the patient, identified as a woman from Japan’s western region of Kansai, was conducted by doctors at the Kyoto University Hospital on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the hospital, the patient who had severe lung damage from Covid-19 was recovering after the nearly 11-hour operation. Her husband and son, who donated parts of their lungs, are also stable.

The university claimed it was the world’s first transplant of lung tissue from living donors to a person with Covid-19 lung damage. Transplants from brain-dead donors in Japan are still rare, and living donors are considered a more realistic option for patients.

Dr Hiroshi Date, a thoracic surgeon at the hospital who led a 30-member team for the operation, said: “We demonstrated that we now have an option of lung transplants (from living donors). I think this is a treatment that gives hope for patients with severe lung damage from Covid-19.”

The university said dozens of transplants of parts of lungs taken from brain-dead donors to patients with coronavirus-related lung damage have been carried out in the US, Europe and China.

In June 2020, a young woman in the US had received a double lung transplant after the coronavirus caused severe damage to the organ. The case was the first known lung transplant in the US due to effects from Covid-19.

In the present case, the Japanese woman had contracted coronavirus infection late in 2020 and she had developed breathing difficulties that rapidly worsened. Subsequently, she was placed on a life support machine that works as an artificial lung for more than three months at another hospital because her lungs were so severely damaged.

But, the university said, even after she was free of the virus, her lungs were no longer functional or treatable, and the only option for her to live was to receive a lung transplant.

Her husband and son volunteered to donate parts of their lungs, and the surgery was conducted. While her husband donated part of his left lung, her son gave part of his right lung. According to the university she is expected to be able to leave the hospital in about two months and return to her normal life in about three months.

So far, Japan has recorded over 496,200 cases of Covid-19 including over 9,300 deaths.

Additional reporting by agencies

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