Israel’s Two Liver Transplant Patients Suffer Serious Setbacks

Israel’s two liver transplant patients have suffered serious setbacks and both have undergone surgery for a second time at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. According to a hospital spokesman, they are in critical condition.

Mira Schichmanter, 40, who underwent the first liver transplant operation on October 22, was operated on again Tuesday night after she began bleeding internally.

Eliahu Schreier, 59, was undergoing transplant surgery Monday morning when he developed severe stomach bleeding due to a clotting problem. The bleeding was stopped by medication and the interrupted surgery was completed at noon Tuesday.

Dr. Albert Settinger, acting director of Rambam Hospital said Wednesday that Schreier’s transplanted liver appears to be functioning “but his general condition, meaning his cardio-vascular system, is still poor and he is in very poor condition.”

Schichmanter, a mother of two, seemed to be making a slow but regular recovery eight days after her surgery when she suffered a hemorrhage that required emergency surgery to determine its cause. The condition was corrected.

Settinger said “Mrs. Schichmanter, who we thought to be out of danger yesterday (Tuesday) evening, had serious complications last night. She started to bleed from veins in the esophagus.” He said that was a symptom of her original liver cirrhosis. “Most certainly, this is a serious setback. We are trying to stabilize her condition. She is awake and spoke a few words to her husband. In general, her condition is stable but it is most certainly critical,” Settinger said.

Both liver transplants were performed by a surgical team headed by Dr. Yigal Kam who was trained in the procedure at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa.