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Six-way kidney transplant in US

Surgeons in the US have transplanted six kidneys simultaneously, an operation believed to be the first of its kind, hospital officials announced Tuesday.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 18:20 April 9, 2008
  • Gulf News

Baltimore: Surgeons in the US have transplanted six kidneys simultaneously, an operation believed to be the first of its kind, hospital officials announced Tuesday.

The transplants were conducted on Saturday when a donor was found to be a match for one of six transplant candidates. Five patients had a willing donor whose kidney was incompatible with theirs, but it did match another in the group.

That meant there were six people who could receive an organ.

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

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.

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