A team of 13 surgeons working in three shifts with two operating room nursing teams at New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health successfully performed a heart, liver and kidney transplant in early February.
For 14 hours, dozens of medical staff worked on the complex surgery at Petrocelli Surgical Pavilion in Manhasset, N.Y., according to a March 27 Northwell news release.
The patient, 47-year-old Sergio Cestoni, had been on the heart and kidney transplant waiting lists for two years when a November cardiology visit revealed his heart was struggling to circulate blood. His liver function was eroding, too, from cirrhosis.
Three organs from a deceased donor matched in size, age and function, prompting a multi-disciplinary Northwell team to prepare for Long Island’s first triple transplant.
Days after the Feb. 8 procedure, Mr. Cestoni “was up and moving,” the release said, “and he was able to urinate without the aid of dialysis for the first time in a year.” He returned home March 7.
