Queen Mary Conducts Rare Double Transplant Surgery

Queen Mary Hospital announced on Tuesday that it has successfully carried out a rare double organ transplant to replace a patient’s ailing liver and kidney.

The patient is still under intensive care, but appears to be recovering well, according to the doctors.

Dr Albert Chan, deputy director of the hospital’s Liver Transplant Centre, said the patient suffered from a rare genetic disorder called “polycystic liver and kidney disease” – where thousands of cysts form and fill both organs, making the liver swell to three or four times its normal size.

Chan said the surgery on Sunday lasted about 14 hours, in which the liver was transplanted first, followed by the kidney. The transplants were scheduled after finding “perfect matches” in a rare case.

Chan told RTHK’s Candice Wong that the patient had waited over a year for suitable organs to become available at the same time, because doctors felt that both of his organs had to be replaced in one go. This only became possible after a donor was able to provide both.

The specialist said it had been 13 years since a similar double transplant was done in 2005, because it’s very difficult to find a right match for both the liver and the kidneys. He said the procedure itself was very complex.

“Like any other combined organ transplantation, it’s always a challenge because it involves two major operations,” said Chan.

“Everything needs to be precise and in place. If anything goes wrong right in the middle of the first operation, that would actually affect the chance for the second operation. In the worst case, it might even [be impossible] to proceed.”

More than a dozen doctors took part in the marathon operation, and Chan said team work was key to the successful operation.

“This time, it’s very fortunate. We have involved not just the liver transplant… We have a good team here, also the urologists from Queen Mary Hospital, and also another team of urologists from another hospital who harvested the kidney from the donor,” he said.