transplantation. The organs were quickly helicoptered in. A team at Cedars came together to perform surgeries lasting over 20 hours.
Step-by-step teamwork
During multi-organ transplants, surgeons operate based on the amount of time each organ can tolerate being outside the body. Teamwork is crucial.
“The first step is the heart transplant,” Dr. Tyler Gunn, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Cedars’ Schmidt Heart Institute, said in the video. As he explained, it first proceeds as it would with a heart-only transplant.
However, when the transplant is complete “it changes — we leave the heart and the chest open, allow the liver team to do their anastomosis [connecting the two organs],” Gunn said.
So a team led by Dr. Nicholas Nissen, surgical director of the liver transplant program, stepped up to do their part.
“We open the abdomen, take out the [existing] liver and put in the new liver,” Nissen explained in the video. “And it’s a little bit tricky, because you’ve got a fresh heart that’s now just starting to work, just starting to feed the body and feed the organs.”
Finally, more surgery, as Sams received a new kidney to replace his failing ones.
But two weeks later, the patient was well on his way to a full recovery.
“It’s a miracle,” Sams told HealthDay. “I was having heart, kidney and liver issues, and now I have a clean bill of health. I can walk upstairs, I got my energy back, and I am happy that I had this opportunity so I can let other people know that there is hope.”
One of the keys to success with any transplant surgery is having a patient who is young and highly motivated, and Sams