Man back home after historic lung transplant

IRELAND’S first double lung transplant recipient has returned home just weeks after his life-saving operation.

While 60-year-old Jack Mullery has to make regular trips back to the Mater Hospital in Dublin, he continues to do well.

Mr Mullery, from Rosses Point in Sligo, was rushed to the hospital on Thursday, January 12 when suitable organs became available.

A team of 21 medical and nursing staff was involved in the historic five-hour operation. The father-of-five had suffered from emphysema for 10 years and had been on standby for eight months for the procedure.

A second double lung transplant has since been performed and that patient is also doing well.

A total of four single and two double lung transplants have been carried out since the transplant programme started in May. The hospital plans to carry out around 15 lung transplants per year when it expands its transplant facilities.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Jim McCarthy said lung transplantation in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients was more technically challenging but expects to be in a position to operate on a CF patient in the near future.

“It is the logical next step for the unit. We actually have all the expertise in place now and things are moving along very nicely,” he said.

On average people wait up to 18 months on the lung transplant list but around 30% die before an organ becomes available.

Mr McCarthy said international studies indicate the survival rate five years after a lung transplant is 50% to 60%, and the Mater transplant team is confident it can match this rate.

He said the need for a heart and lung transplant would be very rare. In most cases, he said, a damaged heart could be surgically repaired during a lung transplant procedure.