Severance Hospital Achieves 400 Cases of ABO-Incompatible Kidney Transplantation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Kidney Transplant Team at Severance Hospital's Organ Transplant Center announced on the 17th that they have recently performed their 400th ABO-incompatible kidney transplant on a patient suffering from hypertension and diabetes. This achievement was made about nine years after the first ABO-incompatible kidney transplant was performed in June 2010.

Jo Eun-hee (62, blood type A), who received the 400th ABO-incompatible kidney transplant, was suffering from chronic kidney disease. In January of last year, her kidney function rapidly declined due to COVID-19 infection and other factors, and she was diagnosed as needing either a kidney transplant or dialysis. Finding a donor was difficult for Jo, but she was introduced to ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation by Professor Lee Joo-han, her attending transplant surgeon, and Professor Heo Gyu-ha, head of the kidney transplant team. Subsequently, she successfully underwent the ABO-incompatible kidney transplant surgery after receiving a kidney donation from her husband Park Il-soon (61, blood type B), whose blood type was different.

ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation is a high-risk surgery because the recipient's and donor's blood types do not match, which increases the risk of rejection of the transplanted organ. This is due to blood type antibodies in the recipient's blood attacking the transplanted organ. To prevent this, plasma exchange and immunosuppressive drugs are administered before the transplant to remove blood type antibodies, followed by the kidney transplant. Close cooperation and experience among multiple clinical departments such as transplant surgery, nephrology, and laboratory medicine are crucial to reduce rejection reactions and complications that may occur before and after surgery.

The Kidney Transplant Team at Severance Hospital's Organ Transplant Center performs nearly 50 ABO-incompatible kidney transplants annually. They have successfully conducted transplants even in high-risk patient groups, including those over 60 years old or with high transplant resistance. Recently, they have accelerated improvements in surgical outcomes by introducing an ABO-incompatible kidney transplant program using robotic surgery.

Kim Myung-soo, director of Severance Hospital's Organ Transplant Center, said, "We are pleased to expand the donor pool through ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation," adding, "We will continue to strive for personalized treatment that minimizes complications according to each patient's different immune risk."