clipped from: www.sciencedaily.com ScienceDaily (Mar. 18, 2009) — A 7-year-old girl from Long Island, NY, is on her way home a little more than four weeks after receiving a historic surgery that involved the removal and partial re-implantation of six organs in order to resect an abdominal tumor that otherwise would be inoperable.
The 23-hour surgery, which began on Feb. 6, was led by Dr. Tomoaki Kato at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, and is the first reported pediatric case of its kind.
Throughout the surgery, the patient's father, a firefighter, was on standby as a transplant donor in case his daughter's liver was too damaged; it was determined to be healthy and viable. The liver, small and large intestines were re-implanted. However, her pancreas, spleen and stomach -- non-vital organs that had been compromised by the tumor -- were unsuitable for re-implantation.