Regina Leader Post
May 24, 1964. p.1,3
By Alf Strand
Staff Reporter
SASKATOON
A six person medical-surgical team has successfully completed a kidney re-transplant - a second kidney transplant into the same patient - believed to have been the first operation of its kind in Canada and the fourth such operation in the world.
The patient undergoing the rare operation was 19-year-old Mrs. Harvey (Stella) Mossing, formerly of Hardy, Sask., and Alberta, and now living in Saskatoon since her operation. At the time of her illness she had been married only five months.
A total of 49 physicians participated in assessment and evaluation of various facets or direct consultations. No less than 14 surgical procedures were required.
The actual team was composed of: Dr. Neville J. Jackson, vascular surgeon; Dr. Marc Baltzan, internist; Dr. Betty Lou Baltzan, internist; Dr. Gordon M. Wyant, anaesthetist; Doctors Casimir Wolan and Manuel Ty, urologists. Members of the team are on the s
taffs of St. Paul’s Hospital and University Hospital in Saskatoon.
Dr. Baltzan said in an interview with The Leader-Post it was only in the last year or so that techniques had been developed allowing kidney transplants of any kind to be performed successfully.
The problem in the past has been that the body rejects any foreign tissue introduced into it. This is the fifth kidney transplant of any kind performed in Canada. The others have been in Montreal.
“About 300 have been performed elsewhere.”
Dr. Baltzan said a “re-transplant” kidney operation, in which two kidneys must be used because the first transplant fails, is a particularly rare and tricky type of operation.
He said the treatment used in lowering the body’s resistance to the first kidney often has lowered patient resistance to other disease and failure of the first transplant has often meant death of the patient.
He said the re-transplant on Mrs. Mossing had been made possible by refinement of techniques.
Mrs. Mossing and her husband, who is a “cat” operator, were residents of Alberta when she took sick last fall. They returned to her mother’s home in Hardy and consulted physicians in Regina who found her to be dangerously ill and referred her promptly to
the renal unit at St. Paul’s Hospital.
She was immediately admitted to St. Paul’s where an artificial kidney was utilized intermittently as required to remove waste products from her blood. The diagnosis was chronic nephritis-the kidneys were diseased beyond repair and had stopped functioning
permanently.
After being kept alive by use of the mechanical artificial kidney for one month, a decision was made that a surgical kidney replacement offered the best hope. Mrs. Mossing was transferred to University Hospital where the medical and surgical team combine
d to conduct the necessary transplant surgery.
Members of the family offered to donate a kidney, but the mother-Mrs. Pearl Harrison of Hardy-was selected as the best donor. On Dec. 11, following extensive tests on both the mother and the patient, the first transplant took place. The new kidney worke
d well for only 12 hours and then gradually ceased to function.
Mrs. Mossing was then returned to St. Paul’s Hospital to be kept alive on the artificial kidney. The mother, meanwhile, was discharged in good health.
It was finally decided that the patient’s own remaining kidney and the transplanted kidney would have to be removed. Mrs. Mossing was again returned to University Hospital and this procedure took place Feb. 21. There was no knowledge at that time of whe
n another kidney suitable for transplant might be obtained.
The following day, Feb. 22, the kidney of a fatal accident victim was offered and accepted. It took only 27 minutes to connect the kidney. After this, the kidney functioned immediately and has continued to do so ever since.
Dr. Marc Baltzan, speaking on behalf of the team, said it was important after operations that the patient not be allowed to become allergic to this kidney. In this regard, the experimental drug Imuran is being used to counteract the body tendency to reje
ct the kidney or foreign tissue. This drug and other recent measures are used to prevent the transplant from coming to harm and to protect the exceptionally well function kidney.
:Mrs. Mossing must continue to receive medication and close supervision,” said Dr. Baltzan. “This is her main reason for the move to Saskatoon where, for the present time she will be examined at least three times weekly.
“Her outlook is hopeful. There is a good chance of normal function in view of the way the kidney has performed for the four weeks and three days since the operation. She has just been discharged from hospital and can again lead a nearly normal life. Mr
s. Mossing has indicated she hoped her experience will assist other in this exciting new field.”
Dr. Baltzan said there is just the barest information on permanent survival of any kidney past a period of 18 months. But in the case of Mrs. Mossing, she can have additional transplants if necessary.
