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Surgeons at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore performed the surgery on Monday, calling it the world's first operation. "I feel good," said the donor, Nina Martinez, at a press conference Thursday after the operation. The recipient, who has not been identified, is doing very well, said Christine Durand, badociate professor of medicine and oncology at Johns Hopkins.
They are "incredibly grateful for this gift and now we simply monitor the long-term results," said Durand.
Martinez first wanted to donate the kidney to a friend, but after the death of this friend, she continued her wish to become an organ donor, said Johns Hopkins. The resident of Atlanta, who was inspired by an episode of "Gray's Anatomy," said she was thrilled to be part of a first in the medical field.
"I knew I was the one they were waiting for," she said. "For anyone planning to embark on this adventure, it is feasible. "I just showed you how and I'm very excited to see who could be the first follow-up." Prior to this transplant operation, doctors had found it too risky to leave an HIV-positive patient with a single kidney.
The decision to transplant highlights the confidence scientists have in current antiretroviral drugs, which enable people living with HIV to live a normal and productive life. Thousands of people die each year in the United States while waiting for an organ transplant. Dorry Segev, badociate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said that about 500 to 600 HIV-positive patients could donate organs each year, benefiting about 1,000 people infected with the virus.
Until now, HIV-positive patients could receive the organs of deceased HIV-positive patients, but not those living with the virus. They could also previously receive an organ from someone who was not HIV-positive. The possibility of using organs from living donors would significantly change the equation.
The Johns Hopkins University Hospital received the authorization, in 2016, to perform the first transplant of a living donor living with HIV. Surgeons were waiting to find compatible patients. Martinez and the recipient of his kidney will have to continue taking their antiretroviral drugs.
"The doors are now open for people living with HIV to become kidney donors," Segev said. "Now, anybody can do it anywhere in the world, provided they filter patients accordingly."For us, it's not just a celebration of transplantation, but also the evolution of HIV treatment," he said.
"And the fact that 30 years ago, an illness that was essentially a death sentence was so transformed, that an HIV positive person today can save someone's life." d & # 39; other. "
Like other countries, the United States is suffering from a shortage of donor kidneys and there is a waiting list of about 100,000 people, according to the research and development network. organ transplantation. According to Dr. Durand, about 10,000 HIV-positive patients currently suffer from kidney failure and dialysis.
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