20-05-2025
NYC doctors perform first-ever ‘seamless' 22-hour triple organ transplant in state
NEW YORK (PIX11) – Doctors in New York City performed the first surgeries of their kind in the state—a 22-hour heart, liver, and kidney transplant.
The surgeries took place at Mount Sinai Hospital. The first surgery occurred in January, and the second happened in March.
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'The coordination between our abdominal and thoracic medical and surgical teams was seamless—and the anesthesia expertise required to perform these transplants was critical,' said Dr. Sander S. Florman, the head of the March surgical case. 'An amazing tour de force for this patient!'
The first patient in January was a 64-year-old man who had previously undergone a heart transplant at The Mount Sinai Hospital in 2002. After two decades, he developed chronic rejection of his transplanted heart and experienced deteriorating kidney and liver function.
Doctors noted that these complications are common with long-standing heart disease. The patient was able to undergo a heart, liver, and kidney transplant and recovered from the surgery.
The second patient, a 45-year-old man suffering from severe cardiomyopathy, had experienced multiple complications during a hospitalization for heart failure in 2024. His hospitalization left him with end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis.
The patient was readmitted to the hospital in February 2025 with worsening heart failure. He was listed for a heart and kidney transplantation. However, due to the progression of heart failure and cardiogenic shock—when the body's organs do not receive enough blood and oxygen to function correctly—he required two emergency artificial heart pumps to maintain cardiac function.
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By this time, his liver function had also begun to deteriorate, and he was dying of liver failure. The patient was emergently listed for a liver transplant and underwent the successful triple transplant several days later, making a turnaround.
According to doctors, the patient returned home less than a month later after achieving a complete recovery.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, only 58 heart, liver, and kidney transplants have been performed nationwide.
Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.
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