Leading position in the Eurotransplant network consolidated: The MHH transplant team has just transplanted its 100th lung this year.
Better quality of life for patients: Prof. Dr. Fabio Ius in the operating room, representing the interdisciplinary and interprofessional lung transplant team. Copyright: medjunge/MHH
"We are the only center in the Eurotransplant area that regularly performs lung transplants in children under the age of twelve," says Prof. Dr. Fabio Ius, Head of the Lung Transplant Program at the Clinical Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery (HTTG) at Hannover Medical School (MHH). "In 2025, we were already able to give 100 patients a better quality of life with a new lung, including eleven children and adolescents under the age of 16."
In 2024, the MHH transplanted 104 lungs. This makes the university the largest center for lung transplants in the Eurotransplant network. One combined heart-lung transplant and nine lungs went to children and adolescents under the age of 16 - this corresponds to 45 percent of all transplants in this age group in the Eurotransplant area.
Largest center in the Eurotransplant network
"Together with the dedicated team of physicians, cardiotechnicians and nurses from adult and pediatric pneumology, intensive care medicine, anesthesia and cardiac, thoracic, transplantation and vascular surgery, we have achieved remarkable successes this year," explains Prof. Dr. Dr. Arjang Ruhparwar, Director of HTTG. Only three to four centers in Europe perform a similar number of lung transplants. "On behalf of all staff and patients, we would like to thank all organ donors and their families."
"This success is first and foremost the result of an exceptionally well-coordinated team effort. Behind every transplant are many hours of preparation, coordination and aftercare - far beyond the usual level. Without this team spirit and the great willingness to go the proverbial extra mile time and again, such a milestone would not be possible," explains Prof. Dr. Marius Höper, Director of the Clinical Department of Pneumology and Infectious Diseases. The team looks after more than 1,000 patients after lung transplantation.
Great demands on staff and resources
During the waiting time on the transplant list, an offer for a donor organ can arrive at any time. A large staff of resources and specialists must therefore be available around the clock for a transplant: a free intensive care bed - also in pediatric intensive care -, operating theaters (ORs), pulmonologists - also in the pediatric clinic -, surgeons, anesthesiologists, OR, anesthesia, intensive care and normal ward nurses, cardiotechnicians, employees in the Eurotransplant liaison office, rehabilitation specialists and numerous coordinating staff.
Eurotransplant: Large donor and recipient pool
The non-profit Eurotransplant Foundation, based in Leiden in the Netherlands, matches organs between donor hospitals and transplant centers in eight European countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia. The organization facilitates the exchange of organs such as kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs in a large donor and recipient pool.
Text: Camilla Mosel