Uzbekistan Performs First Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplant
Uzbekistan has performed its first simultaneous liver and kidney transplant on a single patient. The operation was carried out at the National Medical Center, the Zamon news program reported. The procedure marks a further expansion of transplant medicine in Uzbekistan, where hospitals have introduced increasingly complex liver and kidney procedures in recent years. The patient, a woman from Pakhtachi district in Samarkand region, had suffered from liver disease for eight years. After contracting hepatitis C, she developed cirrhosis and later kidney failure. For the past four years, she had regularly undergone hemodialysis, a procedure that filters the blood and partially replaces kidney function. She had previously been advised to seek transplantation abroad, including in India, but the procedure did not go ahead because no suitable donor was found and her family could not cover the cost. Uzbek doctors concluded that transplanting only one of the organs would not be sufficient and decided to perform both procedures during a single operation. Simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation is used in patients with severe disease affecting both organs and is significantly more complex than a single-organ transplant. Doctors must not only perform two transplants during the same operation but also closely monitor the function of both organs afterward. Transplant medicine in Uzbekistan has advanced markedly in recent years. The country now performs both liver and kidney transplants, including procedures that until recently would often have required treatment abroad. In April 2026, doctors at the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center for Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation carried out a kidney transplant between a donor and recipient with incompatible blood groups. Before the operation, antibodies that could cause rejection were removed from the recipient’s blood. Pediatric transplantation is also developing. In December 2025, Uzbekistan performed its first liver transplant on a seven-month-old infant at the National Children’s Medical Center. The child’s mother was the donor. Access to post-transplant treatment has also expanded. Transplant recipients under medical follow-up in Uzbekistan are entitled to free immunosuppressive medicines needed to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ. Regulations also set out procedures for preparing living donors and recipients for surgery, as well as rehabilitation and subsequent medical monitoring. The latest operation adds another highly complex transplant option to those now available domestically. For patients with simultaneous severe liver and kidney disease, treatment abroad is no longer the only option. Hepatitis C, which led to cirrhosis in this patient, can remain without noticeable symptoms for years. Chronic infection can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. According to the World Health Organization, modern direct-acting antiviral medicines can cure more than 95% of people with hepatitis C.
