Surgeons transplanting organs from HIV positive donors for first time in history

When it comes to medical innovation, Pittsburgh is often leading the way. For the first time in US history, surgeons are transplanting HIV organs into HIV-positive patients.

Channel 11 Morning News anchor Katherine Amenta got an exclusive look at how a trial at UPMC is helping lead research on these transplants.

We caught up with Donnie Little as he recovered at UPMC Montifiore after undergoing an HIV positive kidney transplant. He says the days before the transplant were hard.

"Some days you just feel so depressed," Little said. "Some days you feel like giving up. But  I hung in there." 

For five and a half years, Little has waited for a kidney. His wait ended recently when doctors told him he was eligible for a medical trial, using a kidney from an HIV-positive donor.
    
"I told them I don't care what it is, just get me off of dialysis," Little said.

It's all thanks to the 2015 "Hope Act". It allows research into transplanting organs from HIV-positive donors into HIV-positive recipients. UPMC is one of about 20 hospitals in the country right now taking part in the Hope trial, testing kidney and liver transplants.

"For us it's very satisfying and fulfilling," said Doctor Amit Tevar, a transplant surgeon at UPMC. "To see Pittsburgh again as leaders in the field."

Despite common misconceptions, Doctor Ghady Haidar, an infectious disease doctor at UPMC, said HIV drugs are so effective, patients do very well after a transplant.

"It's become a chronic disease, kind of like diabetes, where if you take your meds, if you take your insulin, you're fine," said Doctor Haidar. "You can live a long life."

The research also benefits non-HIV patients. That's because "HIV donor organs" that were once unusable, are now going to HIV patients. That moves everyone up on the list faster -- making Donnie a medical pioneer. UPMC is already thinking about what's next.

"My hope is that we can eventually expand to hearts, lungs, pancreas," Doctor Haidar.

Dr. Haidar says he firmly believes that if the Hope trial is a success, hospitals all around the country will one day be able to do HIV-to-HIV transplants.

Click here for more information on registering through UPMC as a posthumous HIV organ donor.