First Coast News
by Lindsey Boetsch

A unique kind of transplant done at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville gave a man years, if not decades, instead of hours…"One side of his chest was extremely small, really compacted from his disease. So, we could never get the same donor's lungs to match both sides," said Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Mathew Thomas. Only about half of a right lung would fit in Harold's chest. Dr. Thomas knew they had to accept the next set of good lungs and fit them to Harold. It's a very rare technique called lobar transplant. "If you look at the right lung there are three lobes. There's an upper, middle, and lower lobe. On the left, there's the upper and lower lobe. So the lobar transplant is where at the time of transplant, you remove two lobes from the right or one lobe from the left," said Dr. Thomas.

Reach: First Coast News refers to three television stations in Jacksonville, Florida. WJXX, the ABC affiliate; WTLV, the NBC affiliate; and WCWJ, the CW affiliate.

Context:  Matthew Thomas, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon. Mayo Clinic is one of the leading medical facilities in the country for the diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases. Its lung transplant doctors and surgeons use proven innovations to successfully treat people with serious lung diseases. And Mayo Clinic is among the few medical institutions that offer the full spectrum of options for lung transplantation, including heart-lung transplantation.

Contact:  Paul Scotti

Tags: Dr. Matthew Thomas, First Coast News, lung tranplant, Uncategorized