The kidneys of a deceased one-year-old have been transplanted into a four-year-old and an eight-year-old so that they can avoid a lifetime of dialysis, Taipei Veterans General Hospital said yesterday.
In August last year, a four-year-old girl surnamed Lee (李) and an eight-year-old girl surnamed Hsu (許) each received a kidney from the 15-month-old, who only weighed 9.8kg.
He is Taiwan’s lightest-ever deceased organ donor, and it was the first recorded time in Taiwan that two kidneys from one donor were successfully transplanted into two children, the hospital said.
Photo: CNA
Lee was the youngest patient on hemodialysis in Taiwan after experiencing septic shock following a spontaneous rupture of the stomach three days after her birth, Pediatric Surgery Division director Tsai Hsin-lin (蔡昕霖) said.
Lee, who had severe abdominal adhesions from several gastrointestinal perforations, could not undergo peritoneal dialysis, but had been on long-term hemodialysis, he said, adding that she had a high risk of rejecting the new organ.
Before she was one month old, Hsu had acute kidney failure following surgery for a congenital heart condition, he said, adding that she later developed chronic kidney disease and had been on dialysis for three years.
The girls have severe developmental delays due to being on dialysis, so the transplants were the best solution, Tsai said.
However, it has been challenging, as there are few young deceased donors, and the kidneys were only about 5.8cm in length, he said.
Between 2005 and this year, there have only been 15 deceased kidney donors aged six or younger, Tsai said.
Only eight kidneys from four of them were transplanted into children aged 12 or younger, while the others were transplanted into adults, he said.
Last summer, the hospital seized the rare opportunity, he said, adding that a team of 20 healthcare professionals spent about 18 hours on the retrieval of the kidneys and the transplant operations.
Hsu’s new kidney quickly began functioning and she no longer needed dialysis, whereas Lee needed 12 plasma exchanges and medication over a month before she no longer needed dialysis, the hospital said.
A follow-up exam about a year after the surgeries showed that their kidneys are growing, it said.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS