History
Nowadays, organ transplantation is one the key branches of medicine. On September 11, 1970 N.E. Savchenko carried out kidney transplantation for the first time in Belarus. The surgery was carried out at the Clinic of Urology under Minsk State Medical Institute at the 4th hospital. It was a success, because in other USSR republics and even in other countries kidney transplantation procedures had never been performed yet. In 1972, V.S. Karpenko managed to successfully transplant kidney. In 1974, such surgery was carried out by Professor Peter Morrison in Oxford (UK).
Liver transplantation was carried out at the 9th City Clinical Hospital (Department of Portal Hypertension). The physicians of the department had over 30 years of experience in treatment of the patients with chronic and acute liver diseases of the terminal stage. In 1977, the Republican Center for Hepatic Surgery, Portal Hypertension and Sorption Detoxification was established under the 9th Clinic by the Order of the Minister of Healthcare of the BSSR.
The establishment of the center was initiated by Professor L.V. Avdey. He became the first chief of the center. Professor Avdey researched hepatobiliary disorders. He is the author of 150 scientific works, including 4 monographs. For his prominent work, L.V. Avdey was conferred the Order of the Badge of Honour. He also established the School of Belarusian Hepatologists. Later, the School was headed by Professor V.G. Astapenko, Professor N.E. Filipovich.
Professor S.I. Tretyak is one of Professor Avdey’s students. He worked at the 9th City Clinical Hospital. Professor Tretyak developed the method for intravascular xenotransplantation of pancreatic islet cells. The method is used to treat diabetes mellitus. Professor Tretyak is putting into clinical practice the methods for transplantation of other endocrine cells. For instance, transplantation of thyrocytes and paratyrocytes may help solve the problem of insufficiency of the thyroid and parathyroid.
In 2007, the new version of the Law “On supplements and amendments to the Law of the republic of Belarus on Human Organ and Tissue Transplantation” was approved. According to the law, any organ or tissue of a diseases person may be recovered without consent from the relatives or family members of the diseases person (presumed consent for organ and tissue donation). Such approach helps save lives of many seriously ill patients.
After the law was passed, the medical specialists of the 9th City Clinical Hospital started to prepare for orthotopic liver transplantation. There were 8 surgeons and 6 anesthesiologists and intensivists in the team. The new Department of Hepatology and Minimally Invasive Surgery was established. The department of portal hypertension and the room of diagnostic ultrasound were included into the department. The new equipment was purchased, in particular, 2 ultrasound machines, one of which had the sensors for intraoperative examinations. The department of anesthesia and intensive care for surgical patients was also established.
The surgeons and anesthesiologists and intensivists underwent trainings in intraoperative care and postoperative treatment of the patients at the centers for organ and tissue transplantation in the Russian Federation and Germany (B. Petrovsky Russian Scientific Center of Surgery, N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine, Charite Virchow Klinikum and Medizinische Hochschule Hannover). 44 experimental orthotopic liver transplantations were carried out. The specialists of department of hepatology and minimally invasive surgery coordinate the activities relating to multi-organ retrieval with the specialists of the department of kidney transplantation. The funds of the local and the republican budgets were used to purchase the necessary equipment and consumables. Alongside the experimental and organizational activities, the patients were examined and placed on the liver transplant the waiting list. After the examinations, 36 patients with diffuse liver diseases were on the waiting list. Nowadays, about 100 patients are waiting for liver transplants. The first orthotopic liver transplantation was made on April 3, 2008.