Doctors in Italy perform first lung transplant on HIV-positive patient

An Italian hospital has carried out the first ever transplant of two lungs into a patient with HIV, who is doing well after the operation, a spokeswoman said.

The patient, an adult man whose life was in danger from respiratory illness, "was operated on at the start of the week and his post-operation diagnosis is good," said Serena Pizzo, spokeswoman for the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialised Therapies (ISMETT) in Palermo.

Liver, kidney and pancreas transplants for HIV-positive patients have previously been performed successfully, but the operation in Italy was the first involving lungs, she said.
"The possibility of carrying out transplants on HIV-positive patients has been made possible by a new range of treatments that are very effective against HIV," said Paolo Grossi, a specialist in infectious diseases in charge of monitoring the patient's post-operative condition.

Pizzo said one of the main difficulties in performing transplants on HIV-positive patients is that they must be submitted to treatments that lower their immune systems while they are already immune-deficient.

ISMETT, a public institution, partners with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre in the United States.

Alessandro Nanni Costa, director of the national transplantation centre, called the operation "an important event for progress in the transplantation world."