Patricia became a happy mother, but it was not an ordinary birth. The woman had a lung transplant three years ago, and doctors at two research centers followed her pregnancy and delivery.
Three years after the lung transplant, the woman became pregnant. The patient was prepared for pregnancy and during it was under the supervision of specialists from the Medical University of Silesia. The birth itself took place at the University Center for Women’s and Newborn Health at the Medical University of Warsaw. A caesarean section was performed, the mother and her daughter Paula are doing well, the university said in a statement.
High risk pregnancy
The patricians underwent a lung transplant on June 11, 2019 at the Silesian Heart Center. At that time she was 19 years old. Transplantation was dictated by complete respiratory failure against the background of cystic fibrosis. Three years after the operation, with very good function of the transplanted lungs, the patient became pregnant after optimization of immunosuppressive (anti-rejection) treatment and appropriate preparation.
Successful pregnancies are possible after lung transplantation, experts emphasize, but caution is advised as these are very high-risk pregnancies, with a high incidence of transplant rejection, prematurity, and low birth weight infants. It is even believed that women who become pregnant after lung transplantation are at greater risk than other solid organ recipients. The risk of worsening lung function and rejection is not low, so women who have had a lung transplant are advised to avoid pregnancy for the first 2-3 years after surgery. Numerous complications are possible, such as pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure, diabetes, infections, and those associated with some common anti-rejection drugs, especially birth defects and preterm birth.
“There were hours of talk. I saw her great determination and constantly monitored the results, says Dr. Hub. Dr. med. Marek Ochman, coordinator of the Lung Transplantation Department with the Department of Cystic Fibrosis, the Department of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of Lung Diseases of the Silesian Heart Center in Zabrze.
– Pregnancy should be planned and managed in close cooperation between the patient, the transplant team and a specialized multidisciplinary medical team. It was the same here, says Prof. doctor hab. Artur Ludwin, Head of the 1st Department and Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical University of Warsaw.
The specialists add that caring for pregnant women after transplantation requires special care to protect both mother and child during immunosuppressive treatment. Experts cited in a release from the Medical University of Warsaw emphasize that this first pregnancy, which ended in delivery after a lung transplant in Poland, is an important milestone in the history of Polish transplantology and obstetric care for women after organ transplantation.
Lung transplant in Poland
In 1998 prof. Marian Zembala, late transplantologist, cardiac surgeon and later director of SCCS, performed Poland’s first single lung transplant in a patient with end-stage idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, the history of successful lung transplantation in Poland begins in 2001, when prof. Zembala performed the first successful simultaneous heart and lung transplant in Zabrze. Two years later, the first successful single lung transplant was performed in Zabrze. However, until 2004, lung transplantation was not a routine operation in Poland.
The Silesian Heart Center in Zabrze is a national leader in the field of transplantation of chest organs, both heart and lung. Lung transplantation is one of the most difficult, because it is an organ that, due to constant contact with the external environment, is very vulnerable to infections. Despite the risk, the number of lung transplants is increasing because there are no other therapeutic options for seriously ill patients, except in the case of the heart - when, for example, pharmacological treatment can be prolonged or mechanical support of the heart can be used.
In 2011, the team performed the first lung transplant in Poland on a patient with cystic fibrosis. In March 2012, for the first time in Poland, lungs were transplanted to teenagers: 17-year-old Michał, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and 15-year-old Marta, with severe pulmonary hypertension. In 2019, for the first time in Poland, a simultaneous lung and liver transplant was performed on a 21-year-old boy suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects the lungs. Before SCCS introduced lung transplantation in patients with this disease, Poles traveled to Austria for the operation and had to pay for it themselves. One in 2500 babies is born with this disease. newborns.
Source: Wprost
