The first lung transplant conducted in Greece in a decade took place on July 10, 2020 and the 62-year-old patient was reportedly released from the hospital just this week.
The extremely risky surgery is rarely conducted internationally, partially due to a lack of viable donors and the extremely high rate of complications. It is for this reason that surgeons are hesitant to consider the surgery a success until patients have been proven healthy for some time after the transplant.
Highly-trained thoracic surgeons conducted the difficult procedure, which lasted over ten hours, at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, following all the many necessary protective measures against Covid-19.
The patient, who had previously been given only months to live, has now been granted a second chance at life by the prowess of his surgeons — and the generosity of the donor of his new lungs.
This successful surgery marks the beginning of a new organ transplant initiative in Greece, which will be led by the Onassis Foundation. The Onassis National Transplant Center in Athens has been under construction since December of 2019.
When it is finally completed in 2023, it will serve as a cutting-edge facility for organ transplantation in Greece.
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