Chicago, Illinois – In a groundbreaking medical feat, Northwestern surgeons have achieved a dual lung-liver transplant on a patient battling advanced lung cancer – a patient who happens to be a doctor himself.
Dr. Gary Gibbon, a pulmonologist from Santa Monica, California, experienced a significant turnaround in his health after being diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer a year ago. Traditional treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy at the University of California, Los Angeles, unfortunately resulted in irreversible damage to his lungs and liver.
Facing bleak prospects of palliative or hospice care, Dr. Gibbon and his wife discovered the Double Lung Replacement program at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. With urgency in mind, Gibbon was swiftly transported on a medical flight from California to the Midwest.
A mere 12 days on the transplant list, the medical team at Northwestern secured two lungs and a liver from a single donor for Gibbon. The urgency of his condition granted him priority on the list, with doctors noting that Gibbon’s critical state prioritized his transplant.
Dr. Satish Nadig, director of the Northwestern Medicine Transplant Center, highlighted the unprecedented nature of the procedure, describing it as “off the charts” with historical significance. The intricate surgery involved removing cancerous cells from Gibbon’s chest cavity and airways while simultaneously executing the lung and liver transplants.
Utilizing a perfusion machine to maintain the viability of the liver during the lengthy surgery period, the team successfully completed the triple transplant. The collective efforts of the medical team ultimately led to Gibbon being cancer-free six months post-surgery.
Grateful for the gift of life through organ donation, Gibbon expressed profound thanks to his donor and their family. The remarkable achievement underscores the critical role of organ donor awareness in enabling life-saving medical procedures like the one that saved Dr. Gibbon’s life.