Baby's Life Saved with Three-Organ Transplant
A First of its Kind Operation that Made Medical History
Little Adrianna Martinez was born without a small bowel, a rare congenital malformation that made it impossible for her to absorb food. In addition, the one-year-old girl was born with her abdominal organs on the wrong side, making her condition more complex.
According to her mother, Tasha Bowman, the doctors discovered there might be a problem during the last trimester of her pregnancy. When Adrianna was two days old, doctors told Bowman what the problem was. When Adrianna was two months old, doctors told the family she would need a transplant.
Organs Transplant Procedure
On November 9, 2009, surgeons at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, performed a three-organ multi-visceral transplant as part of a single surgical procedure. This was the first time a procedure of this kind was performed in Arizona and the Southwestern United States.
The procedure used the liver, small bowel, and pancreas from a deceased baby donor, transplanting the organs "en bloc," which means they were held together as a single unit.
The operation took seven hours because of its complexity. It is rarely performed because it requires superb logistical surgical and medical coordination.
According to the University Medical Center (UMC), a family friend had agreed to donate part of his bowel and liver; however, the day before the scheduled surgery the hospital was notified that organs from a deceased baby had become available. The organs were procured by John Renz, M.D., who got them from an out-of-state hospital and oversaw the timing of the donor and recipient operations critical to the procedures' overall success.
Organ Transplant Team
The transplant team included five members, including the surgical team consisting of:
- Dr. Rainer Gruessner, professor and chairman of the University of Arizona Department of surgery and chief of transplantation at UMC, who is an international leader in abdominal transplantation and who standardized the technique for living donor intestine transplants
- John Renz, M.D., Ph.D, professor of surgery and vice-chief of abdominal transplantation
- Tun Jie, M.D., assistant professor of surgery.
The medical team included
- Khalid Khan, MBChBm, MRCP, professor of surgery and a gastroenterologist specializing in pediatric liver and intestine transplants
- Thomas Boyer, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Arizona Liver Institute at the UA College of Medicine.
According to Nance Cooney, director of the UMC Transplant Program, this is the only comprehensive pediatric transplant program in the Southwest. It includes specialists in pediatric surgery and transplantation, pediatric gastrointestinal medicine and nutrition, advanced-practical nursing, child life and social support services. These are essential in helping children and their families cope with this type of health program and is only available in a few leading transplant hospitals in the United States.
The first years of Adriana's survival will be critical, but so far the Medical Center is satisfied with her progress. The survival rate for the type of procedure performed on her has a survival rate of from 65-70 percent during the first year.
Rainer Gruessner, M.D., professor and chairman of the University of Arizona Department of surgery and chief of transplantation at UMC, explained that "By transplanting all three organs at once, we can give children with these serious intestinal diseases hope for a health future."
Source:
University Medical Center, Tucson, AZ
UA Medical Center
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