Transplant surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh performed their first “domino” liver transplants this month, a procedure that allows surgeons to perform two life-saving transplants from one deceased organ donor.
First, a liver from a deceased donor was transplanted into a 9-year-old patient with maple syrup urine disease (MSUD). His liver was subsequently transplanted into a 24-year-old patient from Saudi Arabia without passing on the disease.
“This is the first domino transplant in the world involving a pediatric patient with Maple Syrup Urine Disease. Children’s anticipates doing more and more domino transplants involving MSUD patients as a means of coping with the nation’s critical shortage of organ donors,” said George V. Mazariegos, MD, director of Pediatric Transplantation at Children’s Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation.
Children’s developed the nation’s first comprehensive protocol for performing transplants in MSUD patients in 2004 and has performed more than 26, more than any other center in the world.
Source: Dr. George Mazariegos, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh