Medical breakthrough in Israel: a lung was removed from the body of a cancer patient, cleaned and returned

Medical breakthrough in Israel: a lung was removed from the body of a cancer patient, cleaned and returned

In a rare procedure as few had done in the world, a lung patient was removed from the body of a cancer patient, cleaned it from the tumor and successfully returned it to the patient’s body, while attached to a heart machine.

With the new method, there is no need to wait for an organ transplant and allows the patient to return to normal routine life without chemotherapy or radiation treatments.

The patient in his 40s, who chose to remain anonymous, suffered a cancerous tumor that blocked the main airway in his left lung, eventually leading to its collapse.

At first, doctors thought there would be no choice but to permanent resection his lung, as is usually done in such cases, which exposing him to many risks, until finding a lung for a transplant.

“If we were to cut the lung, we would have the patient’s life-threatening,” explains Dr. Yuri Faischowitz, director of the Chiropractic Unit in Beilinson told Dr. Itai Gal of Ynet News.

In order to save the patient’s life, doctors offered an option to remove the damaged lung from his body, cut off the tumor and return it to the body. It should be noted that taking a lung out of the body and transplanting it back in is a procedure that has been performed only a few times in the world and is one of the most complexes in the world of medicine.

After lengthy discussions, the complex operation took place last week. An extensive team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians were preparing for the procedure, have participated in the surgery.

During the operation, the patient was breathed through his right lung which continued to function, while the surgeons cut off the diseased lung, cleanse it from the tumor, and inflate the remaining lung tissue to check that it was functioning. “While we were blowing, we saw that the upper lobe of the lung remained healthy,” explains Faischowitz, “so we decided to transplant it back.”

The lung was reconnected, the blood vessels and the bronchial tubes reconnected as in a lung transplant, and the thorax was sewn back. After hospitalization in the cardiac intensive care unit, the patient began a rehabilitation procedure and his condition is now very well defined.

“Tumor cleansing”: The method that may change cancer coping

For men, lung cancer is the deadliest cancer of all. In many cases, patients are required to wait many years for a lung transplant, as their condition deteriorates until they die. The new surgery may, for some, offer new hope, which may bring about complete cure for the disease.

“The new method may change the way patients treat cancer in the world,” says Prof. Dan Arav, director of the Heart and Chest department in Beilinson, who performed the surgery alongside Dr. Faisschowitz, “Removing the diseased organ and removing the tumor, in some cases, is scientific thinking. A new one that has been shown to be effective in lung cancer and may later be applied to other organs in certain cancers.”

Ynet News

Read more about: Health, Israel, lung cancer