A one-year-old Spanish girl named Emma became the first intestine transplant recipient.
When she was just one month old, doctors diagnosed Emma with intestinal failure, and her health rapidly deteriorated because her intestine was too short. Emma’s disease stopped her intestine’s job to absorb the energy needed to live. The most common cause of intestinal failure in children is a short intestine.
Emma received her new intestine, liver, stomach, spleen, and pancreas from a donor who died of heart failure in Madrid’s La Paz hospital.
Spain is a global leader in organ transplants with over 102 performed in 2021. According to Spanish health ministry data, only the US surpasses this rate.