Can an organ be transplanted more than once?
Having an organ transplant can be a traumatic experience, but imagine how it feels to be transplanted twice!
Asked by: Stephanie Ward, Harrogate
Yes. Sometimes patients will receive heart or liver transplants but die anyway within a few weeks. In very rare cases, the donated organ was still healthy enough to be worth re-transplanting to a new patient.
In 2012, a 27-year old man from the US received a kidney transplant but then had it removed again two weeks later because the disease he was suffering from was damaging the kidney. Doctors rescued it in time and gave it to a 67-year old man instead, and returned the first patient to dialysis treatment.
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Authors
Luis trained as a zoologist, but now works as a science and technology educator. In his spare time he builds 3D-printed robots, in the hope that he will be spared when the revolution inevitably comes.
