Six transplants in less than 36 hours, offering new hope to six patients. This is the latest achievement of IRCCS ISMETT, made possible by an increasingly efficient and well-coordinated Sicilian transplant network. The procedures included two kidney transplants (one from a living donor), one lung transplant, and three liver transplants, one of which was performed using organs from a donation after circulatory death donor. The latter procedure, more complex from both an organizational and technical standpoint compared to transplants performed following “brain death”, was possible using extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which maintains oxygenation and normal body temperature, preventing ischemic damage that would otherwise compromise organ viability. To enable this procedure and organ procurement, ISMETT dispatched a multidisciplinary team, consisting of surgeons, anesthesiologists, a perfusion technician, and a nurse to the Garibaldi Hospital in Catania.
“Thanks to the generosity of the donors and an increasingly efficient transplant system, we were able to restore hope to six people,” said Dr. Antonio Arcadipane, Clinical Director of ISMETT. “ISMETT and the Sicilian Regional Transplant Center apply all standard and additional protocols to optimize organ utilization and offer transplants as a therapeutic option available to as many patients as possible.
