13-year-old girl breathes on her own: Ukraine performed its first pediatric lung transplant

An eight-hour procedure was performed by specialists from the Heart Institute together with Okhmatdyt, thanks to the consent of the donor's family

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09 Aug 2026

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In Ukraine, a lung transplant was performed on a child for the first time at the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine: the donor organs were received by 13-year-old Dana, and the operation lasted about 8 hours.

“12 hours ago we completed the first lung transplant for a child in Ukraine. We spent 8 hours in the operating room and performed this transplant thanks to the donor’s family giving consent for organ retrieval,” — said the Director General of the Heart Institute, Borys Todurov.

According to Borys Todurov, already 12 hours after the intervention the girl was conscious, breathing on her own and feeling well, and the medical team continues close monitoring of her condition.

The head of the Heart Institute thanked the donor’s family, who at an extremely difficult moment agreed to organ retrieval, which made it possible to save another person’s life.

He separately emphasized that specialists from the National Specialized Children’s Hospital “Okhmatdyt” were involved in the preparation and performance of the operation, with whom the Heart Institute team has worked together for many years.

During this complex transplant a large multidisciplinary team took part in the work, spending almost the entire night in the operating room and ensuring a continuous process at all stages.

Medics called the first lung transplant for a child in Ukraine an important step for domestic transplantology and are focusing on the recovery of the 13-year-old patient after the operation.