A Covid-19 patient with a lung transplant, a first in France

The emergencies of the Foch hospital, January 13, 2020 in Suresnes.

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A lung transplant on a patient who presented with acute respiratory failure due to the Covid-19 virus was performed on November 1 at Foch hospital in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), we learned on Thursday.

A first in France, according to the establishment.

The patient, initially taken care of in the intensive care unit of the Lille University Hospital, had developed an extremely serious form of respiratory disease responsible for "almost complete destruction of both lungs", indicates the establishment of the Paris region in a statement.

Despite optimal care for several weeks at his home center, the patient's condition showed no signs of improvement, making a lung transplant necessary.

A "difficult" convalescence

"The choice to have recourse to this ultimate and exceptional therapy is not simple and is subject to the results of numerous complementary examinations," indicates Professor Edouard Sage, head of the lung transplant program at Foch hospital, cited in the press release.

"The purpose of these latter is to detect potential contraindications that would cause the failure of this heavy program," he underlines.

This “first lung transplant in France” for a Covid patient went perfectly.

"However, we must remain cautious, because the recovery of a lung transplant patient is often long and sometimes difficult", according to the specialist.

The Foch hospital had performed its 1000th lung transplant on May 14.

In June, Northwestern Hospital in Chicago in the United States announced that it had performed the first American double lung transplant on a Covid patient.

It was a woman in her twenties, previously in good health, whose lungs had been "irreversibly" destroyed by Covid-19.

It was a first in the United States, but not in the world: in China, doctors performed a double transplant in March on a woman in her sixties.

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