First newborn organ transplant

The first organ donation from a newborn baby in the UK has taken place, described as a “milestone” by the doctor who arranged it.

The transplant of the baby’s kidneys and liver cells took place at Hammersmith hospital in west London, during a operation carried out by a specialist from the NHS Blood and Transplant service.

Doctors have claimed there is potential for more successful transplants but a restriction in health guidelines for newborns means it is rarely possible.

The kidneys and hepatocytes — the main cells in the liver — were transplanted to two separate patients.

Dr Gaurav Atreja from the Division of Neonatology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust which runs the hospital, arranged for the transplant after approaching the parents of the baby girl.

Writing in the British Medical Journal’s Archives of Diseases in Childhood, he said: “There is significant potential for donation among the UK neonatal population that is not being realised.”

He added: “It is due to the extreme generosity of the parents and a wonderful professional collaboration between the neonatal team and organ donation team, that this process was successful.

“This case has set a milestone in the care of newborns in the UK. A significant proportion of babies who die in neonatal units are potential organ donors.”

The kidneys and liver cells are among only a few organs which can be safely transplanted after a donor has died. The vast majority of transplants must take place after the patient has suffered brain stem death — or while the heart is still artificially beating — but guidelines prohibit doctors from diagnosing babies with the condition if they died before they are two months old, thehospital trust said.

However, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said yesterday they are carrying out a review into brain stem death diagnoses in babies under two months old and new guidelines will be published in March. Other research published in the journal last year said small babies in need of organ donations have “the odds stacked against them” because of current UK guidelines.

Experts from Great Ormond Street Hospital, which said a diagnosis of brain stem death is the most common scenario for successful organ donation, noted that the restriction is in contrast to the rest of Europe, the United States and Australia, where medics are able to diagnose death in younger babies using brain criteria.

Because of this limitation, a UK baby in need of a life-saving heart donation —where only small newborn hearts are suitable for transplant — needs to wait until a donation is flown in from somewhere else in Europe.