Doctors Perform Historic Five-Way Kidney Swap

Nov. 20, 2006 — -- Surgical teams at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore performed a "domino-effect" cascade of kidney transplants, transferring organs from five healthy individuals into five patients in need of kidneys in one massive operation last week.

The procedure, known as kidney paired donation, or KPD, took place Nov. 14 and was announced today. The five-way operation -- the largest such procedure to date -- lasted 10 hours and combined the efforts of a dozen surgeons, 11 anesthesiologists and 18 nurses working in six operating rooms.

The operation carries hope for expanding available donor options in a system swamped with those in need of a kidney.

According to statistics from the United Network for Organ Sharing, 68,934 patients in the United States are currently on the waiting list for donated kidneys. Because of a shortage of donors, 3,886 patients -- more than 10 a day -- died in 2004 while waiting for a kidney, according to statistics compiled by the National Kidney Foundation.

Experts said chain-reaction surgeries like this one could help solve the problem.

"This represents a significant step in advancing our ability to identify living kidney donors for potential transplant recipients," said Dr. Bryan Becker, section chief of nephrology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "This also demonstrates a significant institutional commitment from Johns Hopkins to align the necessary resources to do this."

"I think this operation testifies to the need to be creative about our approaches when it comes to organ donation," said Dr. David Axelrod, surgical director of transplants at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H. "It's an example of how we can use altruistic donations to maximize the benefit to the recipient community."

The chain reaction of surgeries was set off by one "altruistic" donor, Honore Rothstein. The healthy 48-year-old woman said she was motivated to donate a kidney after losing both her husband and her daughter in separate accidents and illnesses.