Huge Hungarian success: first lung transplant carried out in Budapest

The first lung transplant has happened in Hungary. According to nol.hu, the middle-aged man, who got a new lung only a week ago, is doing well and is recovering fast.

The 53-year-old man – who has smoked for 30 years and spent decades in a galvanizing plant – got a new lung instead of his damaged one on last Saturday in the Thoracic Clinic of the National Oncology Institute. The man stood up a few days after the surgery. He is doing well and is recovering fast.

A total of 92 people’s coordinated work was needed in order to get the seriously ill man his new lung in Budapest. The operating team was trained in Vienna. There were several developments in the National Oncology Institute prior to the surgery. 4 weeks before the actual action, there was an alert to test everyone’s performance in their task in an actual situation. After that, four patients among dozens of people of the waiting list were chosen who were in a suitable condition for receiving a new organ. The real alarm happened on last Saturday, nol.hu wrote.

Director-general Miklos Kasler called the surgery a “historical moment of medical science” and told that many years had to pass to perform the six-hour-long surgery in the institute. He noted: it would not have happened without the support of the ministry.