Kong patients receive organ transplants from donors with

cancer, but top doctor says 'not a medical blunder'

Hospital Authority reveals eight patients had transplants from
donors who had disease, but doctor says 'nothing else we could do'
PUBLISHED : Friday, 28 August, 2015, 4:07pm
Two transplant patients in Hong Kong who received organs from a
donor found posthumously to have had cancer were not the first
such cases in the city, it has been revealed.
The Hospital Authority said yesterday that eight organ recipients
were notified after transplant operations in 2007 and 2012 that their
donors also had cancer, but none had developed the disease so far.
One recipient has since died of unrelated causes.
A transplant expert at the hospital involved in the most recent case
defended those responsible, calling it an "unfortunate event", not a
"medical blunder".
"Doctors had done all the necessary check-ups on the organs in
accordance with international guidelines," said Dr Philip Li Kam-tao,
transplant committee chairman at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha
Tin. "There was nothing else we could do."
He said the organs - a heart and a pair of lungs - were deemed
suitable for transplant after harvesting and the cancer was not
found in a series of medical examinations including X-rays and
ultrasounds. These organs were in the process of being transplanted
into two patients at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam when
doctors harvesting the kidneys from the same donor found a lump
1.5cm in diameter, which was later determined to be cancer. A
planned kidney transplant was shelved but it was too late to halt the
transplant of the heart and lungs.
Hospital Authority chief executive Dr Leung Pak-yin apologised
yesterday and vowed to study whether new checks could be
included to detect cancer.
Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, a doctor, was concerned that a
lack of resources and manpower might have played a part.
More than 2,029 transplant patients are currently waiting for vital
organs including kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs.
As of June, 75 donations of vital organs had taken place this year. In
the whole of last year, 122 donations were made.
Li said organ transplantation was a procedure in which every minute
counted, as recipients were usually in a life-threatening condition.
Organs must be used within 12 hours of a donor dying.

Cheung Chi-tang, a recipient of a liver and kidney in 2001, said

Hong Kong still lagged behind in organ donation due to traditional
Chinese beliefs. "Organ donation is a meaningful thing it gives
people a new life again, like me," Cheung said. "The incident is
disappointing and there is room for improvement for the doctors
who handled this. I hope lessons can be learned."
Dr Simon Hou See-ming, a consultant urologist who discovered the
cancer in the kidney, said the condition had been almost
undetectable because the lump was so small.
He said the donor, a woman who suffered a stroke, was "rather
overweight" and the button-sized lump was no detected by
ultrasound and only seen after removing fat. It is understood the
donor and her family were not aware of the cancer. They declared
she had no such history on the donation form.
Li said organ recipients and their families were notified of the risks
involved, and that the chance of developing cancer was lower than
0.1 per cent.