Okayama hospital successfully completes world's first segmental lung transplant

Surgeons at the Okayama University Hospital have completed the world's first segmental lung transplant. Doctors successfully cut a lung into smaller parts, and transplanted them into the body of a two-year-old boy from Saitama Prefecture in an 11-hour operation on Aug 31, Fuji TV reported Wednesday.

The boy became the youngest recipient of a lung transplant in Japan.

In May of this year, the patient was diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia and as time went on, it became increasingly difficult for him to breathe normally or comfortably. It was not until August, that surgeons began preparations for the lung transplant.

Surgeons planned to take the left lung from the boy's mother, and transplant it to save him. However, because her organ was much too large to fit his body, they cut the lung tissue down to size, and then successfully grafted the tissues into the young boy's body, Fuji reported.

During the surgery, doctors said they had to make sure not to damage the blood vessels of the lungs, nor the delicate bronchial tissue in order to make the procedure successful, hospital officials told a news conference.

The boy was on an artificial respirator until Sept 13, after which he was able to breathe on his own, doctors said.

© Japan Today