LHSC Transplant Milestones

Highlights for London

  • late 1950s first kidney transplants in London are done at St. Joseph's Hospital using living-related donors
  • 1972 official opening of University Hospital (UH)
  • 1973 UH transplant program begins with its first kidney transplant
  • 1975 first living-related kidney transplant at UH
  • 1977 first liver transplant at UH
  • 1979 University Hospital is chosen as one of five North American centres to conduct a patient study on the benefits and side effects of the new anti-rejection drug, cyclosporine
  • 1981 first heart transplant at UH
  • 1983 first heart-lung transplant in Canada is done at UH
  • 1983 first pediatric heart transplant in Ontario is done at UH
  • 1984 first pediatric liver transplant in Ontario is done at UH
  • 1987 the Multi-Organ Transplant Unit opens, August 31
  • 1988 our centre performs its first bowel transplant; that same year, we successfully perform a combined liver and bowel transplant, which is the first in the world
  • 1989 our first lung transplant
  • 1989 London's first bone marrow transplant
  • 1990 first multi-organ transplant (liver, small bowel, stomach, and pancreas) in Canada is done at UH
  • 1993 our centre performs a living-related liver transplant (mother to child), the first time that this is done in Canada
  • 1994 our liver transplant program develops a clinical pathway, reducing the average length of hospital stay, the number of medical tests, and the amount of medication without affecting patient care
  • 1995 University Hospital and Victoria Hospital merge as the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC)
  • 1997 domino heart-lung transplant
  • 1997 our team transplants the liver, bowel, stomach, and pancreas into a 5-month-old infant, the world's youngest recipient of a multi-organ transplant
  • 1997 our transplant team performs its first split-liver transplant (one liver was divided into two parts so two patients could be transplanted)
  • 2000 the first adult-to-adult living liver transplant in Canada is done at our centre
  • 2001 London performs its 1000th liver transplant
  • 2001 en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant
  • 2004 we perform our first kidney-pancreas transplant
  • 2006 DCD (donation after circulatory death) liver & kidney donors successfully used for transplants
  • 2008 DCD kidney-pancreas donor and transplant
  • 2008 pediatric DCD kidney transplant
  • 2010 DCD en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant
  • 2010 VAD used to support a patient until donated heart becomes available
  • 2011 one donated pancreas is split into two, allowing two patients to each receive a kidney-pancreas transplant
  • 2011 Matthew Mailing Centre for Translational Transplant Studies officially opens
  • 2012 600th heart transplant done, the most of any Canadian centre
  • 2013 robotic-assisted, single-incision living donor kidney nephrectomy
  • 2019  the Multi-Organ Transplant Program performs its 6,000 transplant

 

Canadian firsts

  • 1956 heart valves are transplanted for the first time worldwide (Toronto, Ontario)
  • 1958 living-related kidney transplant between identical twins (Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec)
  • 1963 Canada's first successful kidney transplants using deceased donors are done in Montreal (Royal Victoria Hospital), London (St. Joseph's Hospital), and Saskatoon (St. Paul's Hospital)
  • 1968 heart transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
  • 1970 liver transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
  • 1974 bone marrow transplant (Toronto, Ontario)
  • 1983 lung transplant (Toronto, Ontario), which was the first successful lung transplant in the world
  • 1983 first heart-lung transplant in Canada is done at our centre (London, Ontario)
  • 1986 double lung transplant (Toronto, Ontario), the world's first successful double lung transplant
  • 1990 Canada's first multi-organ transplant (liver, small bowel, stomach and pancreas) is done (London, Ontario)
  • 1993 living-related liver transplant (London, Ontario) is done for the first time in Canada when a parent donates a portion of her liver to her son
  • 1995 pig liver tissue is used temporarily to keep a patient alive until a human liver became available for transplant (Montreal, Quebec)
  • 1999 first double lung transplant using living donors (two people each donated part of a lung to the recipient) (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
  • 2000 first adult-to-adult living liver transplant done in Canada (London, Ontario)
  • 2006 DCD (donation after circulatory death) liver donor successfully used for transplant (London, Ontario)
  • 2008 DCD kidney-pancreas donor and transplant (London, Ontario)
  • 2008 pediatric DCD kidney transplant (London, Ontario)
  • 2010 DCD en-bloc pediatric donor kidney transplant (London, Ontario)
  • 2011 split pancreas, transplanted with a kidney (London, Ontario)
  • 2011 Matthew Mailing Centre for Translational Transplant Studies opens, a national and international leader in microsurgery and translational research (London, Ontario)
  • 2012 600th heart transplant done, the most of any Canadian centre (London, Ontario)
  • 2013 robotic-assisted, single-incision living donor kidney nephrectomy (London, Ontario)