Most transplanted organs stem from donors who have suffered brain death but retain a heartbeat, as this keeps the organs intact. What makes Emma's case special is the difficulty in preserving an intestine from asystole donation due to the digestive organ's characteristics. The donor's organs are then artificially preserved - despite the lack of oxygenated blood - through a system known as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). She said Emma is now 17 months old.Īsystole donations proceed from a dead person after doctors confirm the absence of a heartbeat and breathing functions. 'The good news is that life goes on, that Emma is very brave and proving every day that she wants to keep on living,' her mother told reporters before thanking the donor's family and the doctors. The infant, Emma, had been diagnosed with intestinal failure when she was just one month old because her intestine was too short, and her health rapidly deteriorated until receiving the multivisceral transplant.Īside from the intestine, Emma also received a new liver, stomach, spleen and pancreas. Spain is a global leader in organ transplants, with over 102 of them per million inhabitants performed in 2021, a rate only surpassed by the United States, according to Spanish health ministry data. 'The child has now been discharged and is in perfect condition at home with her parents,' it said in a statement. MADRID : A 1-year-old Spanish girl has become the world's first recipient of a successful intestine transplant from a donor who died of heart failure, Madrid's La Paz hospital said on Tuesday. La Paz Hospital/Handout via REUTERSĭoctors attend a surgery procedure to perform the first ever multi-visceral intestinal transplant from a controlled pediatric donor in asystole to a 13-month baby girl, in Madrid, Spain, in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters on October 11, 2022. La Paz Hospital/Handout via REUTERSĭoctors attend a surgery procedure to perform the first ever multi-visceral intestinal transplant from a controlled pediatric donor in asystole to a 13-month baby girl, in Madrid, Spain October 11, 2022.

Doctors attend a surgery procedure to perform the first ever multi-visceral intestinal transplant from a controlled pediatric donor in asystole to a 13-month baby girl, in Madrid, Spain in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters on October 11, 2022.

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