For the first time in Italy, the transplant of an organ without interrupting the blood circulation within it was performed at the organ transplant center of the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoa, directed by Doctor Enzo Andorno.
It was a life-saving liver transplant in which the organ, to best preserve its function, never stopped receiving blood during its passage from donor to recipient.
The surgery was performed on January 8 and the patient was discharged three weeks after the surgery.
During the transplant operation, the liver remained constantly supplied with blood and at the same temperature from the time it was removed until it was reimplanted, with important advantages during and after the operating phase.
The innovative technique, also carried out thanks to the use of an organ perfusion machine, with which the Polyclinic is equipped, has proven effective in reducing the possibility of the organ suffering damage during the removal or transplant phase and in guaranteeing better preservation of all its characteristics with an immediate resumption of its function in the receiver.
"Scientific and technological research in the transplant field - said the regional health councilor Angelo Gratarola - in recent years has sought useful strategies to guarantee the transplantation of organs which until a few years ago would not have been usable because they were considered marginal, unsuitable, at risk. The significant reduction of ischemia between the sampling and the transplant, or even its abolition through perfusion techniques, better guarantees the success of the operation".
"Despite the complexity of the operation and the decidedly critical starting conditions - concluded Adorno -, the patient was able to leave the intensive care unit 72 hours after the operation, returning to the ordinary hospitalization department, from where she was then discharged three weeks after the operation" .
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