Doctors succeed in six-way kidney swap operation

Surgeons have transplanted six kidneys simultaneously in an operation believed to be the first of its kind.

The transplants revealed today were conducted on Saturday in the US after one 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 surgeries used six operating rooms and nine surgical teams.

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

The six-way transplant follows a quintuple transplant performed in 2006 at the hospital and several triple transplants.

Last week, doctors at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital performed simultaneous transplants of four kidneys.

Most kidney transplants 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 surgeries are performed simultaneously to ensure no one backs out after their loved one has received a kidney.

Dr Montgomery has advocated a wider system of connecting altruistic donors, transplant candidates and incompatible but willing donors to increase the number of available organs.

The United Network for Organ Sharing knows of no other six-way transplant, a spokeswoman.