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The virus that causes Covid-19 NIAID-RML via PA Images

Covid-19 patient in Japan receives world’s first lung transplant from living donors

The recipient is recovering after the nearly 11-hour operation.

DOCTORS IN JAPAN say they have successfully performed the world’s first transplant of lung tissue from living donors to a patient with severe lung damage from Covid-19.

The recipient, identified only as a woman from Japan’s western region of Kansai, is recovering after the nearly 11-hour operation, Kyoto University Hospital said.

It said her husband and son, who donated parts of their lungs, are also in stable conditions.

The university said it was the world’s first transplant of lung tissue from living donors to a person with Covid-19 lung damage.

Transplants from brain-dead donors in Japan are still rare, and living donors are considered a more realistic option for patients.

“We demonstrated that we now have an option of lung transplants (from living donors),” Dr Hiroshi Date, a thoracic surgeon at the hospital who led the operation, said at a news conference.

“I think this is a treatment that gives hope for patients” with severe lung damage from Covid-19, he said.

Kyoto University said dozens of transplants of parts of lungs taken from brain-dead donors to patients with Covid-19-related lung damage have been carried out in the United States, Europe and China.

The woman contracted Covid-19 late last year and developed breathing difficulties that rapidly worsened. She was placed on a life support machine that works as an artificial lung for more than three months at another hospital because her lungs were so severely damaged.

Even after she was free of the virus, her lungs were no longer functional or treatable, and the only option for her to live was to receive a lung transplant, the university said.

Her husband and son volunteered to donate parts of their lungs, and the surgery was conducted at Kyoto University Hospital by a 30-member team headed by Dr Date.

Her husband donated part of his left lung, and son gave part of his right lung.

She is expected to be able to leave the hospital in about two months and return to her normal life in about three months, the university said.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Apr 9th 2021, 7:59 AM

    My goodness that is amazing how far medicine has gone

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    Mute BatMon
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    Apr 9th 2021, 8:17 AM

    @FlopFlipU: on the flip side, it could have been a flop

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    Mute Juniper
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    Apr 9th 2021, 11:48 AM

    @BatMon: There’s still time. To be realistic, its very unlikely that her husband was a perfectly compatible tissue match, so she will need major anti-rejection meds… and as any transplant patient would tell you, with that comes the delicate balance of preventing rejection, versus infection

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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Apr 9th 2021, 6:02 PM

    @FlopFlipU: well done fantastic doctors save live patient new lungs donation, covid destroy his old lungs

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    Mute Biscuits Patinkin
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    Apr 9th 2021, 10:04 PM

    @Brian Flavin: true and that’s also a good alternative headline Brian! :)

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    Mute Neil Neart
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    Apr 9th 2021, 9:20 AM

    Outstanding story. I wonder if stem cells could have been used, but then again they would need weeks to become lung tissue.

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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Apr 9th 2021, 12:27 PM

    @Neil Neart: loads Is stem cell research as the solution to covid lung damage is the same as that for COPD and it has been ongoing for many years. However, there are clinics in the USA using blood stem cells which are not effective (and I believe were taken to task by US regulators for their advertising standards). In China they are looking at lung stem cells. I read that some trials show that lung tissue can be generated this way. However there is still many years to go and, from reading about the covid and COPD lung damage and trials and tests it could be a few years yet. Hopefully this will speed up as lungs so not repair damage and do not currently regenerate.

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