Toronto (Sept. 9, 2003) - November is the 20th anniversary of the world's first single lung transplant performed at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network
- Adding to today's news release from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's (CIHI) on the doubling of the numbers of lung transplants in the last decade in Canada, Toronto General Hospital is making the following available to the media:
- Interviews with an internationally renowned lung transplant surgeon, Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Director of the Lung Transplant Program at Toronto General Hospital and Director, Thoracic Surgery Research. Dr. Keshavjee is quoted in the CIHI media release on the reasons for the increase in lung transplants, and can also speak about the latest research in lung transplantation and why survival rates of lung transplant patients have improved;
- Fact sheets on Canada's largest lung transplant program and on the two world –first lung transplants performed at Toronto General Hospital in 1983 and 1986;
- Interviews with lung transplant patients from Toronto General Hospital:
- One patient had his double lung transplant on July 1, 2003, and was the first patient in the new state-of-the-art Operating Rooms at TGH;
- Another patient has her double lung transplant in 1989, three years after TGH performed the world's first successful double lung transplant;
- A third TGH patient became the world's first cystic fibrosis patient to undergo a double-lung transplant successfully in 1988.
For more information on Toronto General's lung transplant program, please visit the website: www.uhn.ca/transplant.
About Toronto General Hospital
Toronto General Hospital is a partner in the University Health Network, along with the Toronto Western Hospital and the Princess Margaret Hospital. Building on the strengths and reputations of each of these remarkable hospitals, the University Health Network brings together the talent, resources, technology and skills that make it an international leader in health care, research and teaching.
