1st combined liver-kidney transplant concludes successfully

Japan's first combined liver-kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor was successfully carried out at Okayama University Hospital, the surgeon in charge said on Sunday."The surgery ended without any trouble, and we can say it was successful," Professor Takahito Yagi told a press conference. The recipient, a woman in her 50s, "is in a quite stable condition."The woman is expected to be discharged from the hospital after around two months, Yagi said.

The donor, a man in his 40s, had suffered a head injury and was declared brain dead in line with the organ transplant law at a hospital in the Shikoku region.Although he had not expressed his desire to donate his organs in writing, his family approved the transplant.The recipient had been diagnosed with chronic liver failure and loss of kidney function.

Osaka University Hospital had attempted a combined liver-kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor in December 2010, but the recipient died before the kidney was transplanted.