The first recipient of a bipulmonary transplant (bilateral lung transplant) in Jalisco and Western Mexico was discharged from the hospital this week following his life-saving surgery in November.
Ulises Calva Bravo, a 22-year-old suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, received his new lungs thanks to the generosity of a family in Colima who agreed to donate the organs of their deceased 18-year-old son.
The 10-hour operation was performed at Guadalajara’s Hospital Puerta de Hierro Andares in collaboration with the Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery (ICMI). The procedure, which involves transplanting both lungs in a single surgery, was led by Dr. Luis Natera, who described it as “the most complex of all transplants.”
The first bipulmonary transplant in the world was performed in 1983 by Dr. Joel D. Cooper, a Canadian surgeon, at Toronto General Hospital. In Mexico and Latin America, the first lung transplant took place at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) in 1989. However, it took another 30 years before the first bipulmonary transplant was performed in Mexico.
This week, Jalisco Health Secretary Héctor Raúl Pérez Gómez emphasized the importance of promoting a culture of organ donation. He noted that more than 19,000 people in Mexico are currently waiting for a transplant, including 6,372 patients in Jalisco.