Teamwork Renders Historic Triple Transplant Successful

In May 1999, University of Chicago physicians performed the second triple transplant in the world in which three totally different organ systems were involved. "The fact that these organs - the heart, liver and kidney - were not contiguous with each other made this procedure challenging," says U of C heart transplant surgeon Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD. The other challenge, he says, was that with three organs failing and two previous cardiac operations, Kent Slater was very sick going into surgery.

"These operations needed to go perfectly. A slight complication in one transplant would snowball and make the next transplant much more difficult," says Dr. Jeevanandam. "If there's only one organ being transplanted, you have a lot more leeway." "Because we needed everything to go precisely as planned, we had two attending physicians, Dr. David Cronin and me, performing the liver and kidney transplants," says U of C transplant surgeon and director of the liver transplant program J. Michael Millis, MD. (In standard transplant procedures, there is one attending physician assisted by a fellow.)

"The operations went very smoothly," says Dr. Millis. "Mr. Slater had a few very minor post-operative problems, but they've been taken care of. There have been no rejection episodes, and the outlook for him is excellent." Slater agrees. "I'm doing real well," he says.

"Our success in this procedure illustrates the remarkable advances we have made in both heart and liver transplant procedures in the last 10 years," says Dr. Jeevanandam. "It also shows the commitment this institution has to heart, liver and kidney transplant expertise," adds Dr. Millis.