Organ transplantation

Doctors took a step towards a possible solution to the chronic organ shortage

The last three years have seen an increase in the number of transplants in Greece, with 2023 being the best year in the last 15 years in terms of organ supply.

According to National Transplantation Organization data, 87 deceased organ donors were registered last year (8.3 donors per million people), resulting in 204 solid organ transplants.

Five-year-old Ekin Ada Işık was reborn after a miraculous surgery that involved removing her heart from her chest to remove a life-threatening tumor before transplanting the heart back to its place.

The government plans to upgrade and increase funding for the National Transplant Organization (NTO) by two million euros and recruit 27 additional transplant coordinators, the deputy minister of health has said.

The organs of 17-year-old Melek Nur Özgener, who was shot in the head on New Year's Eve in Istanbul's Fatih district, have given life to six people in need of vital transplants.

A patient who received the first live liver transplant in Greece has said she is looking forward to returning to her daily routine after being discharged from hospital.

Eleni Hailamaki, who is 23, received a liver transplant from her 50-year-old father in an operation on January 2 at Athens' Laiko Hospital.

Bulgaria celebrated a historic moment as a 29-year-old woman, who underwent a liver transplant two years ago, recently gave birth to a healthy baby girl, marking the nation's first such case. The successful delivery was announced by the Military Medical Academy (MMA) and the Maichin Dom maternity hospital on Friday.

The first successful liver transplant from a living donor, specifically from a father to his daughter, took place on Tuesday at the capital's Laiko Hospital, as announced by Deputy Health Minister Irene Agapidaki in a social media post on Wednesday. 

Surgeon Professor Georgios Sotiropoulos led the procedure with the contribution of German Professor Dieter Broering. 

A Bulgarian with two heart and kidney transplants conquered the highest peak in Africa - Uhuru (5895 meters) in Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Georgi Peev from Haskovo announced his success, which was achieved this morning at 6:36 a.m. Bulgarian time, on his Facebook page.

The second person to receive a transplanted heart from a pig has died, nearly six weeks after the highly experimental surgery, his Maryland doctors announced Tuesday.

Lawrence Faucette, 58, was dying from heart failure and ineligible for a traditional heart transplant when he received the genetically modified pig heart on Sept. 20.