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A chain of kidney donations

BALTIMORE: Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins Hospital here have transplanted half-a-dozen kidneys simultaneously, in a complex surgical procedure that is believed to be the first of its kind.

The transplants done on Saturday were made possible when a so-called altruistic donor, who was willing to donate to anyone, was found to be a match for one of six transplant candidates. Five of the candidates had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with their particular friend or relative, but a match for another of the six.

The 10-hour-long surgical procedures used six operating rooms and nine surgical teams.

“All 12 are doing great, the six kidneys are working well,” Robert Montgomery, director of Hopkins’ transplant centre and head of the transplant team, said.

The transplant follows a quintuple transplant performed in 2006 at the hospital and several triple transplants. Most kidney transplants in countries such as the United States are cadaver-based, which means they use organs taken from people who have died, but doctors prefer organs from live donors because the success rates are higher. The donors and recipients in the six-way transplant were matched using a living-donor system developed at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Montgomery said the procedures are performed simultaneously in order to ensure that no one backs out after their loved one has received a kidney. He has advocated a wider system of connecting altruistic donors, transplant candidates and incompatible but willing donors to increase the number of available organs.

Randy Bolten, whose brother is President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, was among the donors. He could not donate a kidney to his wife, Jeanne Heise, but he was a match for another recipient. Ms. Heise, who has suffered from kidney disease for more than 30 years, was about to go on dialysis when the chain of transplants became possible.

“We want to spread the word about this sort of group surgery and living organ donation,” Ms. Heise said in a statement issued by the National Kidney Foundation of Northern California.

More than 252,000 kidney transplants have been performed in the U.S. since the United Network for Organ Sharing started keeping data in 1988. Some 87,000 of the kidneys came from living donors. — AP

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