First Irish heart and liver transplant carried out on Co Monaghan patient

A heart and liver transplant has been carried out in Ireland for the first time on a patient from Co Monaghan.

Martin Malinowski, from Castleblayney, underwent the complex surgery at the Mater hospital in Dublin late last year and has made "great strides" in his recovery since then, doctors say.

The double transplant was carried out by two surgical teams – one from the Mater’s national heart and lung unit and the other from St Vincent’s University Hospital’s national liver transplant unit.

Prof Emer Joyce, transplant cardiologist at the Mater, said the surgery was a "phenomenal achievement" that would not have been possible without meticulous pre-planning and major cooperation between medical teams.

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High levels of Covid-19 infection at the time of the transplant added to the worry involved and necessitated even greater co-ordination among the medical teams, she added.

Mr Malinowski (30), who came to Ireland from Poland as a teenager, was an otherwise healthy computer science student when he contracted liver disease following a viral infection. Doctors recommended a liver transplant but his chances of survival were judged to be low as he had also started to experience symptoms of heart failure.

He spent two years on the waiting list for a heart and liver, all the time trying to avoid contracting Covid-19, until the organs became available from a single donor.

Up to 40 theatre staff were involved in the procedure, in which the heart was transplanted first and then the liver.

“When I finally woke up three days after my transplant, my mam was beside the bed. I managed to talk for 15 minutes but I was so exhausted I fell back to sleep,” he said.

Mr Malinowski’s condition improved post-operation and after a week he was transferred to a high dependency ward. He left hospital after a month, and continues to attend regular appointments in the Mater.

“I feel fantastic,” he says of his current state of health. “I have a lot more energy, I want to do things and I walk every day as well as eating a healthy diet.

“In fact, I only now realise how sick I was before the operation. My health had been gradually deteriorating over the years, but I hadn’t noticed.”

Dr Zita Galvin, transplant hepatologist from St Vincent's, said the "groundbreaking achievement" meant Ireland was now among a select few countries with the capability to carry out this kind of joint transplant.

“This was only possible because of organ donation,” she said.

Having managed to complete his college exams while on the transplant list, Mr Malinowski hopes to be working within months.

He says he is “so grateful” to the donor of his organs and their family. “Everyone needs to talk within their family about donating organs. Something like this could happen to anyone; I certainly never expected it would happen to me.”