Rare kidney transplant takes place in Cyprus

A milestone in the modern history of transplants in Cyprus was announced on Tuesday during a press conference in the presence of Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou.

The announcement was made by Dr. Vasilis Hadzianastasiou who said a kidney transplant was performed on a patient with a rare metabolic syndrome, putting Cyprus on the world map of transplants of rare metabolic diseases.

Professor Hadzianastasiou presented the incident, noting that the patient suffers from a disease of gene mutation resulting in enzyme deficiency, essential for branched-chain amino acid metabolism. He also said that without a transplant, the patient will probably die in the first two to three decades of his/her life.

Regarding the difficulties that they faced, he said that these were resolved with group work and communication between all departments and services of the Nicosia General Hospital while there was daily consultation with a group of scientists dealing with metabolic diseases in the UK.

On his part, Minister Ioannou assured the government will stand by the transplant team and reinforce their work.

He also praised the work carried out by the Transplant Clinic since it opened at the General Hospital.

Approximately 200 kidney transplants have been performed, with the percentage of the life expectancy of the implants and the patients themselves being much higher than the average in other developed countries. These results, the minister said, are undoubtedly among the best in the world and honour our country.

Five hemodialysis Units operate throughout the island, serving around 800 hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients, 800 kidney transplant patients who receive post-operative care and an average of 25 kidney transplants take place annually.

Ioannou also said that the Ministry has sufficiently manned the Transplant Clinic and with the completion of the new Dialysis Unit, it will continue with opening an independent Transplant Centre which will exclusively care for postoperative care. The centre will be ready at the end of 2019, he added.