Final round of six-way kidney transplant begins at San Francisco hospital
Rare chain of kidney swaps involving a group of 12 donors and recipients is completed at a hospital in California
Doctors at a San Francisco hospital on Friday completed kidney transplant surgeries in a rare organ-transplant chain from living donors that resulted in healthy kidneys going to six sick people.
The group of 12 donors and recipients, ranging in age from 24- to 70-years-old, were recovering after their operations at California Pacific Medical Centre, said hospital spokesman Dean Fryer.
“All the surgeries went smoothly. Everybody is now in their recovery rooms and getting some well-deserved rest,” Fryer said, adding that donors typically can be released in two to three days and recipients in three to five days.
The first round of operations began on Thursday and all the surgeries were completed by late on Friday afternoon, Fryer said. Five surgeons and dozens of hospital staff were on hand for the two days of procedures, he said.
Among those recovering from Thursday’s surgery was Zully Broussard, 55, of Sacramento, California, a so-called altruistic donor who had triggered the domino effect.