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Celebrating 21 years of transplant success
Pioneering patients joined donor families, current and former staff to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the first ever liver transplant in Leeds.
The get together at the Thackray Museum - in the middle of July’s National Transplant Week - offered an opportunity to see just how far liver surgery techniques have developed since 1986.
It was also a chance for former patients and donor families to share their experiences and talk about the difference that transplantation has made to their lives
Professor Peter Lodge, clinical director of surgery at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, was a trainee doctor at St James’s Hospital when the first transplant was carried out. He said: “It was a remarkable time for all concerned and everyone was extremely proud when that first operation was successful.
“It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come since then. I remember the operations taking about 18 hours and patients had to go back to surgery two or three times for bleeding. They would then spend about two to three months on the ward.
“Today the surgery takes about three to four hours and people are out of hospital in as little as ten days.”
The first liver transplant in Leeds was carried out by late Professor Geoffrey Giles, who sadly died in 1992. His achievements in pioneering surgery were recognised officially when the Geoffrey Giles theatre suite was opened in his honour in December 1994.
The liver transplant programme’s success would not have been possible without the then Professor of Medicine, Monty Losowsky, an internationally renowned exert of liver diseases. Monty Losowsky is now retired but continues to support medical activities in Leeds and is Chairman of the Thackray Medical Museum.
The first transplant catapulted Leeds to the forefront of UK liver treatment - where it has remained ever since.
The St James’s team now has 1,585 successful liver transplants to its name, as well as 1,800 liver resections for cancer and almost 3,000 kidney transplants.
It was responsible for pioneering the ‘split liver’ technique - where two patients benefit from one donor liver.
And at the beginning of July the team announced that it had successfully carried out the first ever adult live donor transplant on the NHS.
Prof Lodge added: “Even after 21 years we are still trying to push the boundaries of what can be done to improve the care of patients with liver disease.
“The event was a chance to celebrate what has been achieved so far and look forward to what we might be doing two decades from now.”
Below are some pictures from the day.
