After a man died following surgery to remove a chunk of liver to donate to his brother, the University of Colorado Hospital temporarily suspended liver donor liver transplants, Associated Press reports.
If the death is ruled a result of the procedure, it would be the fourth in the country, according to the United Network of Organ Sharing.
Living donor liver transplants are relatively rare in the U.S. The procedure has been performed 4,126 times since 1989, according to the UNOS.
Thirty-four-year-old Ryan Arnold went into cardiac arrest and fell into a coma shortly after his operation. He died four days after the surgery in which he donated part of his liver to his brother Chad, a Denver area resident who suffers from a life-threatening liver disease.
The coroner had not determined the cause of death, Rod Arnold, another brother told AP.
In addition to launching an internal review, the hospital has asked that physicians who are members of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons review the case, a hospital spokesperson told AP.
The hospital happens to be the site of both the first liver transplant--which took place in 1963--and the first liver transplant from a living donor--which occurred in 1997--the spokesperson told the Aurora Sentinel. Since then, the hospital successfully performed 141 such procedures.
Although live liver transplants have been halted, the hospital has successfully performed six live kidney transplants since Arnold's death, the Sentinel reports.
To learn more:
- read the Aurora Sentinel article
- here's the Associated Press story