ISMETT-UPMC: 6 transplants in less than 36 hours

Six transplants in less than 36 hours to give new hope to six patients: this is the latest milestone achieved by IRCCS ISMETT-UPMC, thanks to an effective and increasingly efficient Sicilian transplant network.

In detail, two kidney transplants (one from a living donor), one lung transplant, and three liver transplants, including one from a donor in cardiac arrest, were performed. The latter, more complex from both organizational and technical perspectives compared to transplants from “brain-dead” donors, was made possible by the ECMO extracorporeal circulation system, which maintains oxygenation and normal body temperature, preventing ischemic damage that would compromise the use of the organs. To enable this procedure and the organ retrieval, ISMETT dispatched a team to the Garibaldi Centro Hospital in Catania, consisting of surgeons, anesthesiologists, a perfusion technician, and a nurse.

“Thanks to the generosity of those who chose to donate and to an ever more efficient transplant system, we were able to restore hope to six people,” emphasizes Dr. Antonio Arcadipane, Clinical Director of IRCCS ISMETT-UPMC “ISMETT and the Regional Transplant Center of Sicily apply all standard and alternative procedures to optimize organ use and to make transplantation a therapeutic option for as many patients as possible.”