Queen Alexandra Hospital offers pioneering kidney op
A REVOLUTIONARY transplant which allows a donor to give their kidney to a patient with a different blood group is now being offered at Queen Alexandra Hospital.
The procedure – called the ABO incompatible kidney transplantation (ABOi) – was only available in a handful of places nationally.
But now the surgery, which was only introduced to the UK five years ago, can be performed by the renal department at the Cosham hospital.
Dr Jasna Macanovic, who led the first transplant procedure in November, said: ‘The renal team of QA is constantly looking for new ways to provide patients with a full range of life-saving and groundbreaking treatments and surgical procedures.
‘It’s estimated a third of potential live donors are turned away due to incompatibility in blood group, so I feel proud we have managed to get this new treatment off the ground.’
Recipients of the ABOi transplant undergo are given drugs six weeks before the procedure to prepare their bodies.
These drugs reduce the number of a particular type of white blood cells that would evolve to produce antibodies, which could harm the new kidney.
‘Availability of this procedure will enable more patients to receive live donor transplant in our unit,’ added Dr Macanovic.
‘This will undoubtedly improve their quality of life and health and increase their life expectancy.’
Patients who have kidney transplants can live for an estimated 10 to 15 years longer compared to those who stay on dialysis, which sees patients make regular trips to hospital.
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