Last week, twelve organ transplants were performed on seven patients at KB Merkur Hospital in Zagreb, including the first multivisceral five-organ transplant on a patient who received a new stomach, small and large intestine, liver and pancreas.

“This type of operation is only performed in 11 European centres, and 10 such operations are performed in Europe every year,” said the hospital’s director, Mario Staresinic, at a press conference on Sunday to mark National Day of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Day.

The patient, who was born in 1969, is recovering well and his condition will be monitored by anaesthetists, surgeons, internists, gastroenterologists, nephrologists, pathologists and radiologists in the coming weeks.

300 solid organ transplants in Croatia in 2023

He suffers from thrombophilia and his abdomen was full of thick veins and he had at least one internal haemorrhage per day, which is why the transplant was necessary. This operation was also a re-transplantation, as the patient had already received a new liver in 2023.

The head of the transplant team, Stipislav Jadrijevic, said that the operation took less than six hours.

Last week, 12 organ transplants were performed at KB Merkur – three liver transplants, three kidney transplants, one pancreas transplant and the multivisceral five-organ transplant.

In the last 25 years, more than 1,800 liver transplants, 700 kidney transplants, 220 pancreas transplants and 4 intestinal transplants have been carried out at KB Murkur. The last multivisceral transplant was performed in 2022. Three organs were transplanted and the patient is now in good health.

Officials from the Ministry of Health said on the occasion of the National Day of Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation on Sunday that 300 solid organ transplants were performed in Croatia in 2023.