Race Against Time: Complex Transplant Operation Between Israel and Cyprus

A complex cross-transplant operation between Israel and Cyprus concluded successfully: three pairs of donors and recipients in two countries, with precise coordination among dozens of staff members. The kidneys were flown between the countries and transplanted into the recipients, and they began functioning already in the operating room. The cooperation between the countries has been ongoing for years, and the director of the National Transplant Center called on families not to give up.

In a complex cross-transplant operation between Israel and Cyprus, which concluded successfully, kidneys were transplanted in three pairs of donors and recipients in two different countries, with coordination lasting only a few hours. At 5:00 AM, a surgery began at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva to remove a kidney from a 50-year-old Israeli man who wished to donate a kidney to his mother, but tests showed that the transplant between them was not possible. About two hours later, a surgery began at Nicosia Hospital in Cyprus to remove a kidney from a 58-year-old woman who wished to donate to her husband, and in this case too, no medical match was found. At 9:00 AM, the kidney from Israel took off to Cyprus in a designated cooler, and about an hour later, in a private lounge at Larnaca Airport, representatives of the two countries met and exchanged the coolers carrying the kidneys. Meanwhile, surgeries continued in Israel: at Beilinson Hospital, a kidney was removed from a 57-year-old Israeli woman who wished to donate to her husband, but no match was found between them either. Her kidney was transplanted into the mother of the Israeli donor, while the kidney that arrived from Cyprus was transplanted into her husband. In parallel, the kidney flown from Israel was transplanted into a Cypriot recipient. The cross-transplant program has been operating in Israel for years and is managed by the National Transplant Center, in which couples with no match are registered, and a computerized system finds possible matches between different couples. The cooperation between Israel and Cyprus has been ongoing for several years, and all Cypriot couples with no match are also registered in the Israeli cross-match registry. Dr. Tamar Ashkenazi, director of the National Transplant Center, said that the cooperation with Cyprus is unique, and that there is a personal, professional, and human closeness, "and in one word, family." She called on family members of kidney patients not to give up even if they are told there is no match, as the willingness to donate may save their loved ones through the cross-match program.