Man gets wife’s kidney in special transplant for incompatible blood groups

A woman donated her kidney to her husband, offering him the ultimate gift of life before Christmas, state health services organisation (Okypy) said on Thursday.

The operation was successfully carried out at the Nicosia general hospital on December 7.

Specialist Transplant Surgeon Dr Michael Papoulas, and General Surgeon Dr Nikos Michael who carried out the transplant said this was another in a series of transplants with incompatible blood groups between donor and recipient.

This type of transplant, although more complex immunologically, is intended to increase the number of transplants in Cyprus and provide a solution for many patients with final-stage renal failure.

The patient, Christodoulos Angastiniotis, suffered from chronic kidney failure and had been undergoing daily peritoneal dialysis for the last few years.

After the operation, Angastiniotis wanted to publicly thank his wife Angela who, by donating one of her kidneys, offered him, as he said, the ultimate gift of life.

Okypy congratulated the nephrologists of the transplant department, the nursing and other staff for their invaluable contribution. The organisation also thanked the transplant coordinators, saying that without them, such operations would be impossible.