Kidney donor in transplant was brother

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33816, 12 April 1975, Page 3

Kidney donor in transplant was brother

Medical history was made at 1 Christchurch Hospital four months ago when for the first time a kidney transplant operation was performed using a kidney from a living donor.

The recipient was a 33-year-okl Ross resi- [ dent, Air George ( Tauwhare, and the donor was his 28-year-old ' brother, John. The five-hour operation I was carried out by the hos- ( pital renal surgery unit’s ‘ two surgical teams under the direction of the chief ’ transplant surgeon, Dr John Morton, who is also the senior lecturer in surgery at the Christchurch Clinical School.

The operation was not disclosed until the team was sure that any post-operative complications were over. Dr R. Bailey, the physi-cian-in-charge of transplantations, explained that if. ' the transplant continued to work well after three; months it was generally con-' sidered to be a success. During this period Mr Tauwhare survived three acute episodes of rejection, but after treatment his con- i dition was considered to be such as to be able to return; home even though he checks

weekly with the local doctor. Dr Bailey said kidney j transplants have been . carried out at Christchurch Hospital and at other hospitals in the Dominion before, but what made the one involving the Tauwhare brothers unique for Christchurch was that it was the first to! involve a living donor. Normally previous operations have involved cadaver | transplants — kidneys taken from road traffic victims at the time of death and with the permission of relatives. Mr Tauwhare had a kidney disease which ended with chronic renal failure of both kidneys. He contracted the illness — glomerulonephritis — when he was four. The condition is apparent in about half the renal failure cases in the country. FATAL DISEASE If left untreated in Mr Tauwhare's case it would have been fatal, said Dr Bailey. He arrived at the hospital last October with the news that four of his ! brothers were willing to donate kidneys for the transplant. Dr Bailey said the oper-( ation was relatively straight- : forward except that the! 'donor kidney had two renal arteries instead of one. The kidney functioned immedi-i ately it was transplanted. ! Mr Tauwhare was dis-j I charged from hospital 19 ' days after the operation but was under daily care as an outpatient during his last 1 two rejection episodes. I Dr Bailey said a living I donor transplant such as between the brothers carried a I higher rate of success than; ) with a kidney from a nonrelative. ;