In an operation in Miami, the baby gets a new liver, stomach, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, spleen and two kidneys.
By Associated Press
Published March 20, 2004
MIAMI - Wearing a pink dress, an Italian infant who received eight new organs in a single transplant operation cried and cooed Friday as her mother cradled her and said she looked forward to her daughter's future.
"Her biggest feeling is happiness," said a doctor interpreting for Monica di Matteo, 39, mother of cherubic 71/2-month-old Alessia di Matteo.
The transplant surgery was done seven weeks ago but not announced until Thursday. Mother and baby appeared at a news conference Friday morning and di Matteo, of Genoa, Italy, said she was "hoping for a normal life" for Alessia.
The baby was born with congenital smooth muscle disorder, which prevented normal function of her stomach, intestines and kidneys. The condition is fatal if left untreated.
She underwent an operation at Jackson Memorial Hospital in which she received a new liver, stomach, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, spleen and two kidneys. The organs were all taken from the same 7-month-old donor and transplanted as a unit, said Dr. Andreas Tzakis, the lead surgeon.
Doctors said the surgery was the world's first eight-organ transplant. Other officials, however, say it's hard to know whether the hospital set a record, because other multitransplant facilities record the number of organs differently, such as counting the stomach and intestine as one organ.
Alessia is expected to remain in Miami several more weeks for observation.
"We are not at ease at all about the baby's condition, and we're going to be quite nervous for the first year," Tzakis said.
A transplant team from the University of Miami performed the 12-hour operation Jan. 31, when Alessia was 6 months old. The surgery was performed in a space about the size of three fists, and the organs transplanted weighed less than 11 ounces, Tzakis said.
"Everything is so small and every little move matters and every little error can be fatal," Tzakis said. "Everything requires a lot of sophistication and a lot of care."
The hospital is one of the leading centers for "multivisceral" operations, having done nearly 100 in the past 10 years, Tzakis said. More than 80 percent of patients survive the first year after the surgery, he said.
Before the transplants, Alessia was hospital-bound with multiple infections, Tzakis said. There was a problem with tissue rejection after the surgery, but he said doctors got it under control.
Alessia now weighs about 13 pounds and is fed through a tube, but is out of intensive care, Tzakis said. Doctors are monitoring her intestines, which are most likely to develop infections. She eventually will have to learn to eat normally.
When she is released from the hospital, Alessia will go to her home in Genoa for the first time. There, she has a 7-year-old sister and 9-year-old brother.
Doctors say she is expected to live a nearly normal life, though she will have to take medication to keep her body from rejecting the organs.
"It even amazes us sometimes how well these babies and adults can do," Tzakis said.
