Chicago man, 28, undergoes an organ transplant while AWAKE- and doctors even let him see his kidney on the operating table READ MORE: Patient, 62, who had world's first pig kidney transplant dies By Maiya Focht Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 13:17 EDT, 25 June 2024 | Updated: 13:24 EDT, 25 June 2024 e-mail View comments John Nicholas, 28, has just become one of the very few patients to receive a kidney transplant while completely awake. His doctors spoke to him throughout the procedure as his abdomen was flayed open on an operating table.
At one point, they even walked over to show him the new organ that would be placed inside his body to cure his kidney failure. Less than a day after the surgery, the Chicago-based man was discharged from the hospital to recuperate at home, despite the average five-day hospital stay for this kind of procedure. Mr Nicholas didn't even require opioid pain killers to recover.
One of the surgeons on the case, Dr Satish Nadig, director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center, said doctors hope the success of awake surgeries like Mr Nicholas' can cut down on some of the risks of transplant surgery - including breathing problems, blood loss, infection and death. People with chronic conditions like diabetes , heart or lung disease are at higher risk of developing complications when put to sleep for surgery, which can make it difficult for those in need to get a new kidney or other organ. Keeping patients awake while.
