Live-streamed kidney transplant 'went off without a hitch,' doctor says

Doctors involved in Wednesday's live-streamed kidney transplant in Hamilton say both surgeries were successful.

"The donor surgery and the transplant surgery went off without a hitch," said Anil Kapoor, the transplant surgeon involved from St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, in a press release.

"Both patients are doing fantastic with the transplant working immediately and the kidney functioning well," Kapoor said.

Bhargav Turaga suffered from kidney disease, and his kidneys were functioning at about 5 per cent capacity. His wife,NagamaniTuraga, offered one of hers, and turned out to be a match.

Nagamani's surgery to remove one of her kidneys began at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and then the operation to transplant it into Kapoor began at 1:30 p.m.

St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamiltonlive streamed the operation, with doctors taking questions from inside and outside the operating room. The procedure wrapped up around 3:30 p.m. You can watch recaps of the surgery below.

"I decided, and I offered," Turagatold CBC News in an interviewearlier this week. "But it's a mutual decision and support. I just want him to be healthy."

Dr. Darin Treleaven, St. Joe's medical director of kidney transplants, saidthey asked the Turagas if they would be comfortable with cameras in the operating room to "throw open the doors to the community" and show the work that the hospital is doing each week.

"The amount of teamwork and happiness that goes into a kidney transplant is astounding," Treleaven said.

Watch the surgery

See the St. Joseph's Healthcare team in action in the videos below.(On the CBC News app? You can watch the videos here.)

Members of the publicjoined in the discussion on social media and asked doctors questions by using the hashtag #stjoeslivestream.

Wecollected some ofyour comments and questions, and responses from doctors and surgeons, inside the box below.

Can't see the live blog? View it here.