First Successful Lung Transplant Involving Different Blood Types

According to an October 9 press release from the Hannover Medical School in Germany, surgeons at the schools medical clinic successfully transplanted a lung into a 21-year-old female patient in July, even though donor and recipient had different blood types.

Normally, transplants have to involve the same blood type, because of the risk of blood clotting if different blood types mix as well as the increased rejection risk due to incompatibility. However, in an attempt to avoid complications the transplant team used a special method called Immune-absorption to filter and cleanse the blood. For this method a special machine filters the foreign antibodies out of the blood. Additionally, special medicines are given to the patient to prevent her own immune system from developing anti-bodies. The Immune-absorption was performed once before the transplant surgery and several times after the surgery to prevent a rejection of the transplant. The Immune-absorption therapy was not necessary anymore after the patient's body accepted the new organ.

The patient is doing well. She is now working on her rehabilitation in a center in Fallingbostel. She is expected to live a normal life and even participate in sports. However, because the patient is still on anti-rejection and immune-suppressant medication, she will have to take extra precautions as to not to catch an infection.

The patient in this case, Anna-Katharina M, 21, suffered from cystic fibrosis and was already on a respirator in the intensive care unit at the hospital when complications reduced her life-expectancy to only a few days. A lung with the blood type AB became available, and it was certain there was not another patient in Europe, who was a fitting recipient for this particular lung. Even though their own patient had a blood type of 0, the surgeons at the Hannover Medical School's Clinic decided to perform the transplant surgery on the 21-year-old.

Generally, donor organs are rare and the waiting list is long. Many patients die long before an organ becomes available. Organs are usually distributed by blood type, size, and need. The rarer the blood type the harder it is to find a suitable donor organ. And because of the necessary sorting criteria by blood type and size, sometimes a donor organ does not fit anybody on the list and goes to waste. Therefore, if blood type would not be an issue anymore, more people on the waiting list would be able to find a donor organ.

For more information on this case please contact Professor Dr. Martin Strueber at the Hannover Medical School in Germany (Telephone: 01149-0511-532-3452; email: strueber.martin mh-hannover.de.)