First successful lung transplant in Greece after 10 years

Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center doctors give patient a second chance at life

This first lung transplant in ten years represents a milestone for transplant operations, and also marks the start of major efforts being made by the Onassis Foundation to bolster transplant activity in Greece.

Photo: Christos Sarris

Ten years on, the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center (OCSC) has successfully begun a lung transplant program in Greece. The first lung transplant was performed on Friday, July 10, 2020. The patient was a 62-year-old man, who was discharged from the OCSC a few days ago and is now at home, having been given a second chance at life.

This extremely complex surgical procedure, carried out in adverse conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, lasted more than ten hours. The transplant was performed by an OCSC team of surgeons and anesthetists trained at the MedUni Vienna / Vienna General Hospital – the world’s leading lung transplant center – through the Onassis Foundation Scholarship Program. Rounding out the team, and also trained in Vienna, were Intensive Care Unit specialists and a pulmonologist from the Attikon University Hospital, a collaborating institution.

This first lung transplant in ten years represents a milestone for transplant operations, and also marks the start of major efforts to bolster transplant activity in Greece.

It is worth noting that the Onassis Foundation, in collaboration with the Hellenic Transplant Organization, has taken on a major national transplant initiative centered on the creation of the Onassis National Transplant Center (ONTRC), a model hospital that will act as a catalyst for transplant activity in Greece. This investment being made by the Onassis Foundation in the transplant sector includes the construction and running of a Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department within the ONTRC with the capacity to serve the entire country, and to perform transplants. Construction of this new, cutting-edge transplant center began in December 2019, and the completed facility is scheduled to be handed over to the Greek State in 2023.

The 62-year-old patient, who had just months to love, was given a second chance. This successful transplant is a reminder to us all of the need for an adequate transplant program in Greece, and how important an increase in organ donation is for the precious “gift” of life.

Official Statement

Professor Ioannis N. Boletis – President of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center – had this to say in light of this first successful transplant:

“I would like first to congratulate our team, the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center doctors and nurses who took part in this exceptionally complex and difficult transplant, and to send all our best wishes for the speedy and complete recovery of the 62-year-old transplant recipient. This first lung transplant in ten years is a crucial moment in the OCSC’s 27-year history, and an important step in our attempts to promote transplant activity in Greece. Thanks to the Onassis Foundation’s national initiative, the invaluable experience and expertise of the Hellenic Transplant Organization, and the experience gathered to date by Greece’s various transplant units, we are now entering a “new age” of transplant operations, with the aim of pulling our country out of its current impasse. We must never forget that transplants are the only treatment available for end-stage organ failure, which any one of us could find ourselves facing. The “key”, however, in this effort is in all our hands, since more transplant operations can only take place if there is an increase in organ donors.”