Improved odds for liver surgery
Medics transplant livers of donors with a blood type different to recipients for first time, thanks to early use of antibody-fighting drug
A local medical team has transplanted livers from two donors to recipients of different blood types for the first time in the city, thanks to a new protocol.
The breakthrough at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam increased the chances of survival for liver disease patients who lacked a donor match from 50 per cent to 80 per cent, the University of Hong Kong's Professor Lo Chung-mau said.
Traditionally, liver disease patients who cannot be cured by having their tumours removed must wait for a liver from a deceased or living donor with the same blood type.
Such operations have a 90 per cent success rate.
Patients who cannot find a match undergo plasma exchange to reduce antibodies in their blood before accepting a donor from a different blood type. Transplants using this method have a 50 per cent success rate because of the possibility of organ rejection.
But by giving them rituximab before the plasma exchange, the antibodies are further reduced, meaning an organ from a donor of a different blood type is 30 per cent more likely to be accepted.
The first successful cases in the city were a man surnamed Lei, 62, from Macau, who received a liver from his son, and a Hongkonger surnamed Hung, 50, whose wife donated part of her organ.