The first successful pancreas and kidney transplant in Ukraine was performed at the First Medical Association of Lviv. The defender’s wife received the donor organs. At the same time, doctors simultaneously performed three more complex transplants: lungs, heart and liver. This is the first time in the history of Ukraine that so many organs have been transplanted in one hospital.
“Olena is 33 years old today, and she was discharged from the hospital today. The woman says that she was born again this week. She survived a double transplant. For the first time in Ukraine, doctors simultaneously transplanted a pancreas and a kidney. The operation lasted more than 9 hours. Elena’s husband came from the front to support his wife.
Doctors of the First Medical Association of Lviv performed four transplants during the night. This is a record number of transplants, and thanks to this titanic work of surgeons, four people received new organs and a chance for a new healthy life. Heart, lungs and liver were transplanted to three men whose organs were in critical condition.
Incredibly proud of our doctors and their breakthrough in transplantation. This is extremely important for the development of medicine and transplantology in Ukraine,” said Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy.
The operations were performed by specialists of the St. Panteleimon Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv. The surgeons of the Kyiv Feofania clinic helped them to transplant the pancreas, which is considered one of the most difficult surgical interventions in the world. The woman who received a kidney and a pancreas is 33-year-old Olena Tkachuk. She is a nurse from the Rivne region. She had diabetes from the age of five – her pancreas did not produce insulin. After Olena gave birth to a child, her kidneys also failed. The woman spent almost 9 hours on the operating table. She underwent a pancreas transplant within 6 hours. More than 2 hours – kidney. The organs started working just on the operating table.
Elena’s husband is a military man who defends Ukraine. His vacation coincided with his wife’s surgery. He rushed to the hospital straight from the front. Currently, doctors are satisfied with the course of the postoperative period for Elena. She already walks confidently, eats by herself, even tries to do warm-up. The woman is happy that she can finally live without insulin injections and hemodialysis procedures. She dreams of spending more time with her husband and 11-year-old daughter, as well as going to work, which she once had to leave due to illness. She was discharged on the 11th day after the intervention – on her 33rd birthday.
Olena and three other Ukrainians got a chance for a second life thanks to the difficult decision of the family of a man who died of a stroke. He was 42 years old. Doctors of the Novovolynsk hospital declared brain death. The family agreed to the donation. Lungs were transplanted to a man from Donetsk region who had cystic hypoplasia of both lungs. He lived on oxygen support for three years.
The liver was transplanted to a 43-year-old resident of Transcarpathia. His own organ was killed by cirrhosis. In recent months, the man was balancing between life and death. He survived seven internal bleedings, when, according to statistics, a person does not survive after the third.
The heart was transplanted to a 48-year-old man from Lviv. The man waited a year for his life-saving organ. He has cardiomyopathy. The heart could not pump blood and was in danger of stopping at any moment.
“Thank you to all our medical teams from all our centers and departments that participated in this multi-organ transplantation. We also thank our Kyiv colleagues and the Ministry of Health, as well as the Transplant Coordination Center for their constant support of Ukrainian transplant specialists. The introduction of new types of organ transplants is a great step forward for our entire medical field. For the third year in a row, our transplant specialists travel around Ukraine and share their experience with colleagues. After all, we all have the same goal: to save Ukrainians in Ukraine,” concludes the First Medical Association of Lviv.
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