Two-lung transplant patient in stable condition

A man in his 50s from the west remained in a stable condition at the Mater hospital in Dublin yesterday after undergoing the Republic's first double-lung transplant operation.

The patient, who had emphysema, is in the hospital's intensive care unit. A spokesman for the hospital said last night that the patient was "doing well" but in such cases, the first few days were critical.

The transplant took place early yesterday morning and lasted five hours. A team of 21, led by six consultants, carried out the procedure. Led by Mr Freddie Wood, it included three consultant surgeons, two consultant anaesthetists and one consultant physician.

Yesterday's operation was the fifth lung transplant performed in Ireland since the start of the programme last year. Irish patients previously had to travel to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, England, for lung-transplant operations.

A spokesman for the Mater said yesterday that 17 patients were on the waiting list for a lung-transplant operation at the hospital.

There are also 17 patients on the waiting list for heart-transplant operations at the Mater.

The hospital spokesman said yesterday's operation represented a milestone in the current programme as it was the first time that a double-lung transplant was carried out.

He said once a unit could carry out a double-lung transplant it could deal with patients with more complex conditions.

The chief executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Association, Godfrey Fletcher, welcomed the double-lung transplant.

Mr Fletcher said patients with cystic fibrosis almost always needed a double-lung transplant, and the fact that the Mater had shown that it had the expertise to carry out such an operation was a major step forward.

The Mater spokesman said some patients from Ireland still had to go to Newcastle for these operations.

The procedure carried out at the Mater yesterday was the second lung transplant at the hospital in the new year. Last week a single-lung transplant operation was carried out.

The lung transplantation programme was first announced by the then minister for health Brian Cowen in January 1998. However it was not until May last year that the first procedure was carried out.

The first patient to undergo a lung transplant in Ireland was Veronica Doyle (56) from Limerick. At a press conference after her transplant last year, she said that before the operation she had been on oxygen 24 hours a day and that the transplant had given her the chance of a new lease of life.

A spokesman for the Mater said Ms Doyle was currently in very good health.