a kidney transplanted for the second time

A few weeks ago, teams from Saint-Louis Hospital and Lariboisierein Paris, achieved a first in France: kidney which had already been transplanted about fifteen years ago on a first patient, now deceased, was grafted on another patient. The operation was particularly delicate. “I told myself that it was going to be difficult and we weren’t sure that it would be feasible. It depended a lot on the sample and how to operate the quality of the sample“, explains Dr Annabelle Goujon, urological surgeon at Saint-Louis Hospital.

The operation, exceptional, was made possible due to a stroke of the first recipient which led to his death. His kidney was removed immediately, in a context of organ shortage. “That would not be a solution to the shortage of organs because first of all in 25 years, only about ten of this type of transplants have been done in the world and then very specific conditions are needed, in particular that the person who dies, dies in conditions favorable to removal and this is unfortunately rarely the case“, tempers Damien Mascretdoctor and journalist France Télévisions. In 2020, more than 500 patients died, for lack of a transplanted kidney. Today, more than 20,000 are on the waiting list.