ID :
174950
Tue, 04/12/2011 - 17:15
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https://oananews.org//node/174950
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Child under 15 declared brain-dead, organs to be transplanted
TOKYO (Kyodo) - A child aged under 15 has been declared brain-dead with family consent for the first time in Japan, with the child's organs to be harvested for transplantation shortly, a transplant coordination group said Tuesday.
The child is a boy aged between 10 and 14 who was admitted to a hospital in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region, which covers Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, said the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the only entity certified as an intermediary for organ transplants in Japan.
The declaration paves the way for surgeons to extract the organs of a child under 15 and transplant them to patients for the first time since the revised organ transplantation law took effect in July 2010. The operation to remove the organs is scheduled to begin from Wednesday morning, the network said.
Under the revised law, organs can be taken from anyone regardless of their age with family consent, unless the individual in question has explicitly refused to donate.
But if the case involves a person aged under 18, the approval of an anti-child abuse panel at the hospital where the person has been admitted is required.
The network said the boy's relatives have agreed to the extraction of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small intestine for transplantation.
The boy's heart is set to be transplanted to a male patient aged under 20 at Osaka University Hospital, his lungs to a woman in her 50s at Tohoku University Hospital and his liver to a man in his 20s at Hokkaido University Hospital.
His pancreas and one of his kidneys will be transplanted to a woman in her 30s at Fujita Health University in Aichi Prefecture, while his other kidney will be given to a man in his 40s at Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, the network said.
The small intestine will not be transplanted for medical reasons, it said.
The male patient at Osaka University Hospital who will receive the boy's heart was selected as a recipient in accordance with a provision stating that patients on the waiting list who were under 18 at the time of their registration on the list shall be given priority when the donor is also a person under 18. The provision was applied for the first time.
The boy, who had suffered heavy head injuries in a road accident, was pronounced brain-dead at around 7:37 a.m. Tuesday.
According to the network, the doctor in charge of treating the boy told his family Friday that the boy's recovery was difficult and that there was an opportunity for his organs to be transplanted. The doctor determined the same day that the boy was in a state where brain-death could be declared.
On Saturday, in response to the wish of the boy's parents, an organ transplant coordinator briefed the parents on organ transplants for about two hours, followed by another explanation Monday. At 11:33 a.m. Monday, the parents presented a document approving the pronunciation of brain-death and the transplantation of the boy's organs.
The donor's family issued a statement through the transplant coordination group saying that it had come to the conclusion that the use of his body to help people who could survive through organ transplants would be in accord with the boy's wishes.
The boy's relatives have asked the network not to identify the hospital in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region where he had been admitted. The region covers Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Yamanashi, Nagano and Niigata prefectures.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa told a news conference Tuesday that his ministry would watch developments carefully as it was the first case of organ transplantation from a brain-dead donor aged under 15.
The child is a boy aged between 10 and 14 who was admitted to a hospital in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region, which covers Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, said the Japan Organ Transplant Network, the only entity certified as an intermediary for organ transplants in Japan.
The declaration paves the way for surgeons to extract the organs of a child under 15 and transplant them to patients for the first time since the revised organ transplantation law took effect in July 2010. The operation to remove the organs is scheduled to begin from Wednesday morning, the network said.
Under the revised law, organs can be taken from anyone regardless of their age with family consent, unless the individual in question has explicitly refused to donate.
But if the case involves a person aged under 18, the approval of an anti-child abuse panel at the hospital where the person has been admitted is required.
The network said the boy's relatives have agreed to the extraction of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small intestine for transplantation.
The boy's heart is set to be transplanted to a male patient aged under 20 at Osaka University Hospital, his lungs to a woman in her 50s at Tohoku University Hospital and his liver to a man in his 20s at Hokkaido University Hospital.
His pancreas and one of his kidneys will be transplanted to a woman in her 30s at Fujita Health University in Aichi Prefecture, while his other kidney will be given to a man in his 40s at Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital, the network said.
The small intestine will not be transplanted for medical reasons, it said.
The male patient at Osaka University Hospital who will receive the boy's heart was selected as a recipient in accordance with a provision stating that patients on the waiting list who were under 18 at the time of their registration on the list shall be given priority when the donor is also a person under 18. The provision was applied for the first time.
The boy, who had suffered heavy head injuries in a road accident, was pronounced brain-dead at around 7:37 a.m. Tuesday.
According to the network, the doctor in charge of treating the boy told his family Friday that the boy's recovery was difficult and that there was an opportunity for his organs to be transplanted. The doctor determined the same day that the boy was in a state where brain-death could be declared.
On Saturday, in response to the wish of the boy's parents, an organ transplant coordinator briefed the parents on organ transplants for about two hours, followed by another explanation Monday. At 11:33 a.m. Monday, the parents presented a document approving the pronunciation of brain-death and the transplantation of the boy's organs.
The donor's family issued a statement through the transplant coordination group saying that it had come to the conclusion that the use of his body to help people who could survive through organ transplants would be in accord with the boy's wishes.
The boy's relatives have asked the network not to identify the hospital in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region where he had been admitted. The region covers Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Yamanashi, Nagano and Niigata prefectures.
Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa told a news conference Tuesday that his ministry would watch developments carefully as it was the first case of organ transplantation from a brain-dead donor aged under 15.
