First triple transplant

Press, 5 December 1989, Page 9

First triple transplant

PA Pittsburg A woman, aged 26, received a heart, a liver and a kidney during a 21-hour operation at Pittsburgh’s Presbyterian University Hospital in what was believed to be the first triple transplant of its kind, hospital officials said yesterday. “The operation was a success. All the organs are working the way they should be at this time,” a hospital spokeswoman

said shortly after the marathon surgery was completed. “We believe this is the world’s first heart, liver and kidney transplant,” she said. A hospital duty officer said the patient, Cindy Martin, of Archbald, Pennsylvania, was in critical condition after the surgery. The procedure involved three different teams of doctors from the University of Pittsburgh

School of Medicine, one team for each organ, the hospital spokeswoman said. The heart transplant was the second for Ms Martin, who suffers from familial cardiomyopathy, a disease that weakens the heart muscle. Her first transplant three years ago did not take hold. She also developed hepatitis, and the anti-rejection drug cyclosporine damaged her kidney.