Surgeons at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital successfully completed a rare double-organ transplant—the first combined lung and liver transplant in North Texas, only the 75th in the nation.

According to the news article from UT Southwestern Medical Center, the 12-hour, dual-team surgery involved more than a dozen physicians and other team members: one team to remove and replace the lungs, and a second to remove and replace the liver.

STS member Dr. Michael Wait performed the lung transplant. “The lungs were implanted without much of the difficulty we had anticipated and planned for, and the transition from lung to liver transplant was seamless,” said Dr. Wait.

The first dual lung and liver transplant was completed in 1994, and until this surgery, only 74 combined lung and liver transplants had been completed in the U.S., according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

The 25-year-old patient, Josiah Ferrell, is now able to walk outside without the oxygen tank he has carried around 24 hours a day and breathe in the fresh outdoor air for the first time in about two years.

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