Israeli doctors transplant Cypriot heart and lungs in race against time

The logistical feat required a series of coordinated actions that began with an email on Saturday afternoon from a transplant coordinator in Cyprus.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

In a race against time, Israeli and Cypriot medical teams pulled off a rare and complex cross-border operation that culminated in a life-saving heart transplant at Beilinson Hospital this week — the first time in three decades that a heart donated abroad was transplanted in Israel.

The operation, orchestrated by the National Transplant Center and Beilinson Medical Center, involved the transplantation of both a heart and lungs donated in Cyprus.

The organs were flown to Israel and successfully transplanted into two critically ill patients — a 34-year-old woman suffering from end-stage heart failure and a 68-year-old woman with severe lung disease.

“This is saving lives beyond borders,” said Dr. Yuri Peischowicz, Director of the Thoracic Surgery Department at Beilinson.

“I have been involved in hundreds of heart and lung transplants, and this is the first time I have saved a heart in a foreign country and brought it for transplantation in Israel. A heart can survive outside the body for only four hours, and we were up to the task. At 10:30 we completed the rescue in Cyprus, and by 12:00 we were already in the operating rooms at Beilinson.”

The logistical feat required a series of coordinated actions that began with an email on Saturday afternoon from a transplant coordinator in Cyprus.

Dr. Tamar Ashkenazi, Director of the National Transplant Center, described the scramble that followed: “At 12 noon I received the offer for a heart and lung donation. We began by transferring medical information to teams in Israel to assess the organs, and simultaneously launched a logistical journey — securing a private plane during peak summer travel, organizing customs clearance, and obtaining emergency budget approval.”

By 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the medical team was already at Ben-Gurion Airport. The delegation to Cyprus included Dr. Peischowicz, Dr. Ben Ben Avraham, operating room nurse Magdi Kabah, and lung machine operator Sanyan El Haj.

But the operation faced more than hurdles. After arriving in Larnaca, the team’s driver to Nicosia broke down en route.

“A driver and car were immediately replaced,” Ashkenazi recounted. “And in the end, the team in Nicosia helped us return to Larnaca with the organs — in a police helicopter straight to the field — to shorten the time.”

Back at Beilinson, parallel preparations were already underway. Two patients were prepped for surgery by a team involving dozens of staff: anesthesiologists, nurses, heart-lung machine operators, transplant coordinators, and more.

The heart transplant was performed by Dr. Udi Jacobson and Prof. Dan Aravot, while the lung transplant was led by Dr. Israel Kuznitz, Prof. Erez Sharoni, and Dr. Merav Rokach.

Both surgeries were successful. The patients are now recovering in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of Dr. Danny Gurfil.

“The cooperation with Cyprus, including in the cross-donation program for living donors, is built on many, many people — all of them extraordinarily kind and generous, with goodwill, and fans of Israel,” said Ashkenazi.

Peischowicz stress that the day’s success was not about records but lives. “It is exciting to see dozens of people in Israel and Cyprus who immediately mobilized to save the lives of two women.”

In 2024, Israeli and Cypriot doctors performed eight kidney transplants in a one day of carefully coordinated life-saving procedures. In all, five Israelis and three Cypriot citizens received a new kidney on Monday.