In the lung transplant nursing department there is a map of the Netherlands with hundreds of flags pinned on it. From the Wadden Islands to South Limburg. ‘If a patient can return home after the transplant, we complete the admission by having the patient put a pin at his place of residence. That is always a beautiful and sometimes very emotional moment,” says internist Erik Verschuuren of the lung transplant team.
Both adults and children
A lung transplant was performed for the first time at the UMCG in 1990, and now approximately 45 patients receive new lungs here every year. Both adults and children, and combined transplants also take place here; a patient can receive new lungs and a new liver, or new lungs and a new heart.
Still suitable
Thanks to new techniques, more and more lung transplants are possible. For example, a perfusion machine has been developed at the UMCG that allows you to test how well donor lungs work. Sometimes lungs that seemed unsuitable for a transplant turn out to work well and can save a patient’s life. We also conduct research to see whether we can ‘renovate’ lungs and make them suitable for transplantation, and how the quality of life after a transplant can be improved.
All forms of organ transplants
The UMCG is one of the few hospitals in the world and the only hospital in the Netherlands that performs all forms of organ transplants. The UMCG Transplant Center is therefore the most versatile and largest transplant center in the Netherlands.
2024-01-23 18:38:09
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