\n<\/p>\n
Eirini, a Greek student completing a master\u2019s degree in the Netherlands, has Wilson\u2019s disease. The condition causes copper to build up in the liver.<\/p>\n
She developed acute liver failure while in Athens, and it spread to other vital organs. As a result, doctors rushed her to the city\u2019s Hippokration General Hospital.<\/p>\n
Eirini told Greek television that arriving within 24 hours was the main reason she survived. \u201cI was lucky because they found a donor and we did the transplant straight away,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n Doctors activated the Greek-Italian protocol on transplant cooperation. In Italy, the National Transplant Centre<\/a> in Rome set the process in motion, according to the Turin hospital.<\/p>\n Professor Renato Romagnoli, head of the Liver Transplant Centre at the Molinette hospital<\/a>, agreed to take her case. A special aircraft then flew her to Italy.<\/p>\n She arrived intubated, with only hours to live, her doctors said. Special treatment quickly cut the amount of copper in her liver.<\/p>\n Within 12 hours, doctors found a donor organ and took her into theatre. Romagnoli and his colleagues spent 10 hours on the Turin liver transplant.<\/p>\n Her recovery was far from simple because of several complications. Specialists in kidney disease, immunology, liver disease, anaesthesia and radiology worked together to treat them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the power of organ donation, a great gift of life, a new liver,\u201d<\/em> said Livio Tranchida, the hospital\u2019s director general.<\/p>\n Tranchida said the donation, together with the skill of the hospital\u2019s doctors, saved a young Greek woman\u2019s life when there seemed little room for hope.<\/p>\n Eirini has now left hospital following her Turin liver transplant, and her doctors described her progress as extremely satisfactory.<\/p>\n She told Greek television that she had needed two weeks of physiotherapy because she had not walked for three months. Ever since she started walking again, she has felt well, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe patient is well and will soon be able to return to Greece,\u201d<\/em> Romagnoli said.<\/p>\n He described the Turin liver transplant as \u201ca story of immediacy, effective organisation, international cooperation and altruism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s disease is an inherited disorder that stops the body removing extra copper, according to the US National Library of Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last year, the same Turin team carried out a second transplant on 18-year-old Mario from Agrinio.<\/p>\n Source: Proto Thema<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\nThe Turin liver transplant<\/h3>\n
Recovery and going home<\/h3>\n