Palermo, four lung transplants at Imsett in one week

PALERMO – Palermo’s Ismett performed four lung transplants in just over a week. On average, about 15 lung transplants per year are performed in the Palermo center. The exceptional goal was made possible thanks to four donations that became available in rapid succession in three different cities: Messina, Catania and Rome. All Sicilian patients aged between 23 and 64 years old underwent the transplant. In one case, a pediatric donor was also used, whose organ was transplanted to a patient with pulmonary interstitial disease, who had been waiting for over five years.

«The conditions of transplant patients – underlines Alessandro Bertani, head of the thoracic surgery and lung transplant program of the Mediterranean Bertani Institute – they are good. Two of the four patients have already been transferred to ordinary hospitalization, the other two are still hospitalized in intensive care but their course is regular ». «The difficulty of these interventions – explains Ismett – derives from the fact that the lung is the most complex organ to be removed due to its fragility and because it is easily exposed to infections, traumas and external agents. For this reason, only one in 10 donors can actually donate lungs too ». The close-up sequence of transplants is even more extraordinary because it was carried out in a pandemic period. «The lungs – observes Bertani – are the target organ of the virus, therefore both donors and recipients can be affected by Covid-19 pneumonia, putting the successful outcome of the transplant at risk. This is why very careful checks are required before carrying out a lung sampling or transplantation ». “In addition – adds Bertani – the specialists who deal with lung sampling and transplantation are the same who have been dealing with the management and treatment of Covid-19 patients for more than a year. Therefore, the human and organizational energy for the donation and transplants are severely tested and it is often very difficult to organize such a complex procedure as a lung transplant. Even the Ecmo machines that are used for Covid patients are the same ones needed for lung transplantation “.