Beilinson sets record with eight major organ transplants

The number of organs transplanted within such a short time – an Israeli record – was equivalent to those carried out by major European transplant centers, the Petah Tikva hospital said.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: JANUARY 17, 2016 22:09
PRESIDENT REUVEN RIVLIN stands with family members of organ donors at ADI ceremony. (photo credit: MARK NAYMAN)
PRESIDENT REUVEN RIVLIN stands with family members of organ donors at ADI ceremony.
(photo credit: MARK NAYMAN)
Four livers and four lungs were transplanted within 48 hours into seven patients, saving their lives, the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus said on Sunday.
The number of organs transplanted within such a short time – an Israeli record – was equivalent to those carried out by major European transplant centers, the Petah Tikva hospital said.
One patient received two lungs in the procedures in which 50 doctors, nurses, technicians and transplant coordinators were involved. All the recipients are recovering and doing well.
Armonk Akifian, 74 and a resident of a Haifa suburb, received a liver due to complications of a hepatitis C infection that led to cirrhosis, after waiting for two years in the queue. He underwent a rare operation in which he both received the liver and underwent bariatric surgery to shorten his stomach. This was only the second such operation in Israel and the eighth in the world.
Ezri Anabi, who received the lungs, said he was in the hospital for a checkup, and when he returned home, he received a call from Prof. Mordechai Kramer, head of the lung institute, that organs had been found for him.
Prof. Dan Aravot, head of the cardiothoracic surgery department at Beilinson, said the three recipients of lungs had been in very serious condition.
Some had even been called in for a transplant, but then it was found the organs were incompatible.
This time, said Aravot, there was “complete compatibility, and after a long wait, they were given new life.”