Organ donation is typically a difficult process: Recipients must wait on organ donation waiting lists for indefinite periods of time, and the families of donors are forced to make an extremely hard decision during a time already marred by painful and recent loss.
The logistics of the organ donation system have made it even more difficult for children to receive organs.
Doctors at the Imperial College London’s Hammersmith Hospital in England made history when they performed the world’s first organ donation between newborn babies.
The history of organ donation is long, rich, and ultimately harrowing. Accounts from medieval times recall Justinian’s leg being replaced with one of an Ethiopian who had recently passed away, and those from as early 200 BC recount the first rhinoplasty; both of these accounts, however, are similar in that they do not clearly record the success or veracity of such surgeries.
Thus, it is unsurprising that due to difficulties in creating effective transplantation techniques and anti-rejection drugs, that organ donation between two humans has only been performed successfully in relatively recent times.
The first successful modern organ transplantation, a kidney donation between two identical twins, was performed only 61 years ago in 1954. The recipient ended up living for eight more fruitful years. Since then, many more successful organ transplantations have occurred, including heart, liver and bone marrow transplants between humans.
Transplant between children, however, has had an even more difficult history than the practice between adults. There has been a severe shortage of organs available for children due to a smaller pool to draw from, as well as a lesser likelihood of there being a proportionate number of viable donor organs from people so young.
The transplant donor in this recent case was a six-day-old baby. The neonate had experienced severe oxygen deprivation and brain damage while in her mother’s womb and was unresponsive when doctors at Hammersmith delivered her via emergency Ceasarian section. She did not respond to a variety of tests, and the pupils of her eyes remained dilated.
When it was clear that the girl was not responding to treatment and would not survive, doctors brought up talks about organ donations to her parents, who eventually consented to the donation.
Finally, six days after the baby girl was born, she passed away. Her healthy kidneys, as well as several cells from her liver, were donated to two other newly born babies, one of whom was suffering from renal failure.
Many of the babies recently passed away in the neonatal units of the United Kingdom, where the transplants were performed, are viable organ donors, but actual transplantations have never been performed.
Though there are not many newborns in need of organ donations, those who do need them have the highest risk of dying due to lack of organ availability.
The achievement of the medical team at Imperial College London’s Hammersmith Hospital presents a large step toward a solution for the difficult problem of the logistics of organ transplantation, especially for young children and newborns.
