World’s 1st Living-donor Lung-liver Transplant Successful at Kyoto University Hospital

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:07 JST, March 4, 2024

KYOTO — Kyoto University Hospital announced Monday that it had succeeded in the world’s first combined lung-liver transplantation from living donors.

In the surgery, performed on Nov. 15, the lungs and part of the liver from a total of three relatives were transplanted into a boy under 10 years old. The boy, who suffered from the genetic disorder dyskeratosis congenita, has recovered well and was discharged from the hospital Friday.

Dyskeratosis congenita is a rare disease that causes abnormalities in the skin and other organs from birth. There is no known cure for the symptoms. About 200 people in Japan are said to be seriously ill with the disease.

According to the hospital, the boy, a resident of the Kanto region, received his father’s right lung, his mother’s left lung and part of his grandfather’s liver in the surgery that lasted more than 18 hours. His parents are in their 40s, and his grandfather is in his 60s.