Hopkins Performs Historic 'Six-Way Domino' Kidney Transplant

On April 5th, the operating rooms at Johns Hopkins were the site of what is believed to be the first six-way donor kidney swap among 12 individuals.

A Hopkins team led by surgeon Robert Montgomery, chief of the Transplant Division at Johns Hopkins Hospital was required to make this complex series of transplants possible. He was joined by an interdisciplinary team of nearly 100 other medical and allied health staff, including immunogeneticists, anesthesiologists, operating room nurses, nephrologists, transfusion medicine physicians, critical care doctors, nurse coordinators, technicians, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, financial coordinators and administrative support people.

All donors and recipients are doing well and recovering.

On April 23rd, President George W. Bush met with patients, doctors and nurses who participated in the ground-breaking, twelve-patient “domino” kidney transplant in the Oval Office of the White House. Aside from being what is believed to be to first-ever simultaneous paired donation transplant of six kidneys, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton’s brother, Randall Bolton, was one of the patients.

You can learn more about the procedure at: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2008/04_08_08.html