The procedure was carried out at the Department of General, Transplantation and Liver Surgery at the Medical University of Warsaw. The clinic, headed by Professor Michał Grąta, is the only center in Poland where liver fragments are harvested from living donors. Now, for the first time, a liver fragment was harvested using a minimally invasive method.
Poland's first laparoscopic liver fragment harvesting from a living donor
Źródło:WUM
- To date, all liver fragment donations from living donors have been performed using the classic method, through an abdominal skin incision under the rib arches. The introduction of minimally invasive access allows for a faster return to activity, further reducing the risk of complications and limiting pain in the postoperative period for healthy individuals choosing to donate a fragment of their own liver for a child. The donor was discharged from the hospital seven days after surgery without complications. The liver fragment was used for transplantation in a 2-year-old child, for whom transplantation was the only chance for survival. The organ became functional immediately after transplantation. The child is already at home with his parents. The transplantation was performed more than a month ago," said Prof. Michal Grąt.
Transplantation of liver fragments taken from a living donor now accounts for more than half of all liver transplants in children in Poland. Thanks to the cooperation with the Department of Pediatric Surgery and Organ Transplantation of the Children's Memorial Health Institute, headed by Prof. Piotr Kalicinski, since 1999, the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery at WUM has performed 463 liver fragment retrievals from living donors, which have been used for transplantation in children. Nearly 25 years of cooperation between the two transplant centers has made it possible to significantly increase the availability of liver transplantation in children and reduce mortality on the waiting list.
The use of minimally invasive access for harvesting liver fragments from living donors is another milestone in Polish transplantology. The performance of this operation was made possible by the experience resulting from the program of liver fragments harvested by the classical method and the program of laparoscopic liver resections in the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery.
The operation was performed by Prof. Michal Grąt, assisted by Prof. Waldemar Patkowski, Dr. Maciej Krasnodębski, M.D., and Dr. Pawel Rykowski. The anesthesia was performed by Dr. Marta Dec. Instrumentalists Marzena Kaczmarska, M.D. and Anna Anyszkiewicz, M.D., and anesthetist Ewa Gniatkowska, M.D., participated in the procedure. The liver fragment was transplanted at the Children's Health Center by Prof. Piotr Kalicinski's team.
