30 November 2009
Local kidney patients are being given new hope from a pioneering transplant technique, which allows surgeons to transplant a kidney from donor to recipient even if their blood types do not match.
This new technique, which was performed by the transplant team at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust for the first time in September, is only available at a handful of trusts across the country and in Europe .
The first person to undergo the new surgery at St George's was Steve Purcell, a renal patient at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton. Steve, from West End in Surrey, said: "The transplant has gone amazingly smoothly and I'm eternally grateful to my kidney donor and to the transplant team at St George's.
"Being able to operate even though there is a blood group difference is a major step forward and opens the door for many more people to access this life-changing operation. Thanks to the transplant I am looking forward to living a normal, active life and hopefully I am the first of many to have a transplant at St George's using this pioneering technique."
Consultant transplant surgeon for St George's, who led the first operation, Nicos Kessaris said: "This is a significant milestone for St George's and the result of a team effort across the South West Thames Renal Transplant Network. Through using this technique we will be able to improve patient care by performing more transplants in the future."
Renal consultant and medical director for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Dr Jonathan Kwan said: "This is fantastic news for renal patients in the area. Finding out that you need a kidney transplant is an incredibly daunting thing to face for anyone, so anything that can increase or speed up the number of transplants is a huge benefit to patients."
