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American Morning
Son Donating More Than Half of His Liver to His Mother
Aired August 28, 2001 - 11:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In this age of medical miracles, a new surgical technique, known as living liver transplants, is getting a lot of attention. One of those transplants is taking place today in Washington. a son is donating more than half of his liver to his mother.
Our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from just outside the operating room at Georgetown University Hospital with more on this fascinating story.
And, Sanjay, a front row seat?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Daryn. That's why I am wearing these clothes we are in the sterile area right outside of the operating room. This is the first part operation taking place. This is where the donor, in this case a son, Mark Linthicum, 27 years old, a perfectly healthy guy is donating his liver, 60 percent of it, I should say, to his mother, who is in an operating just next door and has gone to sleep just an hour ago. The surgeons here are busy. You can see a whole group of them working on making large incisions on his abdomen to go ahead and remove the right 60 percent of his liver.
This is quite an amazing gift of the son to the mom, and we had a chance it talk to them a little bit earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. AMY LU, GEORGETOWN UNIV. HOSPITAL: She ultimately needs to have a transplant for her survival, and I would say if she didn't get a transplant within the year or so, she would not survive. )
MARK LINTHICUM, LIVER DONOR: Doctors at Georgetown had brought up this living donor program to me, and of course, I had to think about it for a few minutes. I think it took me about three. But anything for my mother.
DOROTHY LINTHICUM, LIVER RECIPIENT: It was something that he just decided to do on his own.
LU: We take out her whole liver, her whole damaged liver, and then we put in his portion of the liver, and basically we figure out how much we need for her. You need about 1 percent of her of a person's body mass in liver tissue to -- for the liver to function properly and be able to regenerate the remaining portion.
M. LINTHICUM: They are going to prep her first and have her basically ready to receive and make sure that everything's going to be OK with her before they even bother cutting into me.
LU: The recipient's risks are really not much greater, in terms of complications. It lies in the donor risk, because it's a much bigger operation for them to undergo, and those complications are -- involve bleeding, because it's more liver that we take out, infection, and complications with wounds and so forth.
M. LINTHICUM: I wasn't too concerned with, you know, with myself; I was more concerned of how she will do.
D. LINTHICUM: It's very special and, you know, he's given me a chance to live longer. Of course, apparently, he wants to hold onto me for a little bit longer.
M. LINTHICUM: You're my mom, so, like I said, you know, how many chances do you get to give back? And you know, anything for you, mom. You did -- you gave me life.
D. LINTHICUM: I guess we have to make this paid in full.
(LAUGHTER)
M. LINTHICUM: Yes, I would think so, I would think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: You've just heard from him, and Mark Linthicum, indeed, the 27-year-old, is indeed behind us here now, having 20 percent of his liver removed. The operation was started about 7:30, and is expected to go until about 3:00. It's a carefully orchestrated maneuver that they actually take the liver over to the recipient, his mother, who will actually have her operation started just about one hour ago -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sanjay, how long to take Mark, the son, to recover from that, for his liver to regenerate, and what will that recovery time be like for him?
GUPTA: Right, excellent question. What's amazing about the liver is that it can regenerate, Daryn, as you said. It takes about 8-12 weeks for both Mark's liver, the donor liver, to regenerate, as well as the recipient's liver, the part of his liver that's now going to be in his mother, to also regenerate, about 8-12 weeks to get to full size.
Mark is going to have sort of a bumpy road ahead. He's going to be in ICU for at least a couple of days. He may come off the ventilator today or tomorrow, and then he'll probably be in the hospital for at least a few days after that. So he's going to be here for a while -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A big undertaking. Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Washington, thank you.
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