Kidney transplant patient saved after rare complication

A kidney transplant patient who suffered a near fatal complication because of a genetic defect has been saved after 97 days of treatment at Shanghai's Renji Hospital.

The 48-year-old man had suffered uremia for years. His elderly brother decided to donate one of his kidneys to help him.

Pre-surgery checks found the patient had genetic defects, which may cause transplant associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA), a rare complication with extremely high mortality.

However, the patient insisted on the transplant.

The transplant was performed on September 4. The patient's kidney function recovered well at first but started to show symptoms on the third day.

Tests confirmed that that the patient had suffered TA-TMA.

Despite the hospital's best efforts his condition deteriorated and he started to suffer respiration failure on September 21. Doctors decided to use ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, to sustain his life. He was removed from ECMO 25 days later after the condition started to become stable. He was discharged after 72 days rehabilitation treatment.

According to Dr Zhang Ming, head of the hospital's kidney transplant group, the incidence of TA-TMA is only 4.9 in every 1 million and there are very limited therapies. The successful save of the patient reflects the hospital's comprehensive ability.