AIDS fear for transplant patients
By Cai Wenjun |
August 29, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FIVE transplant patients in Taiwan are facing an anxious few months to find out if they have been infected with the AIDS virus.
Each received an organ from a man who was later found to have been an HIV carrier.
The Taiwan University hospital in Taipei issued a news release over the weekend saying that the mistake was due to its transplant team not following standard operating procedures or checking test results on computer before performing the operations.
The hospital has informed the organ recipients and their families and reported the issue to the local health authorities.
"Our medical teams have started relevant treatment and care including emergency anti-HIV medication for the recipients," the news release said. "We will give the most appropriate medical care for the recipients in the future and take all responsibility."
The medical staff involved in the transplants had also started a course of anti-HIV medication, it said.
An infection specialist at the hospital said they couldn't confirm whether the recipients had been infected with the virus. They needed to conduct more tests, with results expected in one or two months. The patients would also be tested over the next six months before the possibility of infection could be ruled out.
Emergency treatment
The 37-year-old organ donor suffered a serious head injury due to a fall last Wednesday and was sent to Nan Men Central Hospital in Hsinchu City for emergency treatment. After he was confirmed to be brain dead, his family contacted the university hospital to arrange the transplant of his organs.
A team removed the man's heart, liver, lung and two kidneys.
The heart was sent to the Cheng Kung University hospital for a male patient, the other four organ transplant surgeries were conducted at the Taiwan University hospital. According to local news reports, Taiwan University hospital officials said its doctors checked the results of HIV tests on the organs with the hospital's lab people by phone.
Transplant team members misheard a lab staff member saying that the HIV test results were "non-reactive" while in fact they were "reactive" and proceeded to perform four transplant procedures.
Trusting the Taiwan University hospital, the Cheng Kung hospital began its heart transplant without doing HIV tests, Taiwan media reported.
The mistake was found after the transplants had been completed and the transplant team collected the paperwork.
Dr Fan Jia, vice president of Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital, said yesterday that every hospital should draw a lesson from the incident.
"We only carry out transplant surgeries after seeing a signed test report from the lab or checking the results in the computer system," he said.
Each received an organ from a man who was later found to have been an HIV carrier.
The Taiwan University hospital in Taipei issued a news release over the weekend saying that the mistake was due to its transplant team not following standard operating procedures or checking test results on computer before performing the operations.
The hospital has informed the organ recipients and their families and reported the issue to the local health authorities.
"Our medical teams have started relevant treatment and care including emergency anti-HIV medication for the recipients," the news release said. "We will give the most appropriate medical care for the recipients in the future and take all responsibility."
The medical staff involved in the transplants had also started a course of anti-HIV medication, it said.
An infection specialist at the hospital said they couldn't confirm whether the recipients had been infected with the virus. They needed to conduct more tests, with results expected in one or two months. The patients would also be tested over the next six months before the possibility of infection could be ruled out.
Emergency treatment
The 37-year-old organ donor suffered a serious head injury due to a fall last Wednesday and was sent to Nan Men Central Hospital in Hsinchu City for emergency treatment. After he was confirmed to be brain dead, his family contacted the university hospital to arrange the transplant of his organs.
A team removed the man's heart, liver, lung and two kidneys.
The heart was sent to the Cheng Kung University hospital for a male patient, the other four organ transplant surgeries were conducted at the Taiwan University hospital. According to local news reports, Taiwan University hospital officials said its doctors checked the results of HIV tests on the organs with the hospital's lab people by phone.
Transplant team members misheard a lab staff member saying that the HIV test results were "non-reactive" while in fact they were "reactive" and proceeded to perform four transplant procedures.
Trusting the Taiwan University hospital, the Cheng Kung hospital began its heart transplant without doing HIV tests, Taiwan media reported.
The mistake was found after the transplants had been completed and the transplant team collected the paperwork.
Dr Fan Jia, vice president of Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital, said yesterday that every hospital should draw a lesson from the incident.
"We only carry out transplant surgeries after seeing a signed test report from the lab or checking the results in the computer system," he said.
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