In Lviv, for the second time in Ukraine, a heart and kidney were transplanted simultaneously

Specialists at the Transplantation Center performed a simultaneous kidney and heart transplant on a 58-year-old Lviv resident.

Writes UNN with reference to the press service of the Lviv City Council and the First Medical Association of Lviv.

Details

For the second time in Ukraine, surgeons at the Transplantation Center of the First Medical Association of Lviv performed a simultaneous kidney and heart transplant on a patient who had been suffering from kidney failure for 18 years and had suffered two heart attacks.

Viktor Abrashkin's health problems began at the age of 40 when he was diagnosed with kidney disease and prescribed pills. Three years ago, he suffered a heart attack, after which his kidneys failed completely - he needed hemodialysis. After some time, the man had a second heart attack - he could no longer breathe in fully, and spent his last strength on undergoing hemodialysis.

I lacked air. I could not walk a meter. I could not even sleep. Every night my wife and daughter checked on me to see if I was breathing. It was hard, I thought these were my last days

The only way to save the patient was to transplant two organs at once - a heart and a kidney.

Unexpectedly, a donor appeared on the man's birthday, and the Lviv resident got a chance to live.

According to Maksym Ovechko, head of the Transplantation Center, “two teams worked during the operation: cardiac surgeons and abdominal surgeons.

First, my colleagues transplanted the heart. It was successfully “launched”. As soon as this happened, we were able to start the kidney transplant. It also started working in the operating room. We are very proud, because this is only the second such transplant in the history of independent Ukraine, and it was successful 

Recall

In the first half of 2024, 283 organ transplants were performed in Ukraine (187 kidneys, 55 livers, and 41 hearts).