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Doctors split one liver donation, save two lives

"The opportunity was presented by two people in critical condition and a very good donor,"' said Dr. Marwan Abouljoud, director of liver transplantation at Henry Ford Hospital "The anatomy was favorable and the organ was in good shape."

The delicate 24-hour surgery to split the liver into two functioning halves had not been performed in Michigan before. Only about two dozen such operations have been done worldwide, Abouljoud said.

The recipients, Edwina Wilson and Ricardo Feliciano were both in fair condition yesterday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Diana Leone said.

When transplanting livers into children or other small patients, the organ often must be trimmed and parts of it discarded. It is rare to be able to use both halves, said Dr. Francisco Escobar III, surgical director of Ford hospital's pancreas transplant program.

Escobar harvested the organ Friday from a 24-year-old man who had been shot. The donor's heart and pancreas went to University Hospitals; his liver and kidneys went to Henry Ford Hospital. In all, the donor helped six recipients.

Escobar and Abouljoud then worked for four hours to cut the organ in half.

Splitting the liver is possible because the organ regenerates. In two to three months, the split livers should grow to the size of the former one, Abouljoud said.

``We make sure everything is just the way we want it before we open the recipient up,'' Escobar said.

Wilson of White Lake and Feliciano of Detroit, were awake and talking Tuesday -- though both had been near death before the transplants were completed Friday.

``They made a miracle,'' said Manuel Feliciano, Ricardo Feliciano's father.

Feliciano was diagnosed with cirrhosis when he was 12. While the cirrhosis stunted Ricardo's growth, he completed college but became gravely ill two weeks ago.

As his liver failed, so did his kidneys. He also began bleeding internally, doctors said. Abouljoud said he likely would have died the same night of his transplant if the liver hadn't become available.

Wilson was diagnosed a month ago with autoimmune hepatitis, meaning her body was attacking her liver. Her condition quickly deteriorated and she was comatose for three days in the weeks before she received her transplant.

``It's like getting a second chance,'' Wilson said.