The first lung transplant of the new year was performed at the end of last week by doctors at the Faculty Hospital in Motola. For the very first time in the entire 25-year history of the National Lung Transplantation Program, lung collection was performed outside the Czech or Slovak Republic, specifically in the city of Rzeszów in southeastern Poland.
The transplant coordination center in Warsaw offered an organ to the Czech Republic because there was no suitable recipient on the Polish waiting list for a lung transplant.
"In the early hours of the morning, we were approached from the Polish side asking if we were interested in donor lungs for a patient on our waiting list. We immediately confirmed this interest," explains prof. MD Robert Lischke, Ph.D., Head III. surgical clinics of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of the UK and FN Motol and head of the National Lung Transplantation Program of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Communication took place between the transplant coordination centers of both countries. Considering that this was the first ever event of this type between the two countries, it was a new experience for everyone involved. The safe and professional transport of the sampling team to the international airport in Řešov in Poland and back to Prague was provided by the pilots of the Army of the Czech Republic in a CASA C-295M aircraft. From the airport, the collection team with all equipment was transported to the donor hospital by ambulance. The lung collection itself was part of a multi-organ collection, so the lung team worked in cooperation with other collection groups, including the cardiac surgery team from Warsaw.
"In addition to everyone on the Polish side, a big thank you also goes to our coordinators and instrumentation nurses, who already have a lot of experience during the operation of the program, which is why we were able to focus purely on the surgical aspects of the collection directly in the operating room." added as. MD Jiří Vachtenheim, Ph.D., surgeon III. surgical clinics of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of the UK and the Motol FN and the National Lung Transplantation Program of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
A 62-year-old man with pulmonary fibrosis due to sarcoidosis underwent transplantation. The operation was performed on the support of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the immediate postoperative course was very good, and the patient could be weaned from artificial lung ventilation on the day of the operation.
The Faculty Hospital in Motola is the only facility in the Czech and Slovak Republics that performs lung transplants. The first lung transplant in the Czech Republic was performed in 1997. Today, the center is one of the largest in Europe, and since 2018, the Motol workplace has been systematically performing lung transplants for citizens of the Slovak Republic, where the lung transplant program is not available. In 2023, a record number of transplants was performed at the Motol General Hospital in one year, namely 67.
"Historically, the first lung collection performed by our team outside the Czech or Slovak Republics is thus another milestone for the entire lung transplant program at Motol Hospital. and the fact that we were approached with an offer of an organ from abroad expresses the good international reputation of the program and is to some extent an appreciation of the excellent work of everyone who participates in the lung transplant program at the FN Motol." concludes Professor Lischke.
Press Release: TZ_Physicians from the NP tx lungs for the Czech Republic and SR and FNM performed lung sampling in another country for the first time
