All-Female ISMETT Surgical Team Performs Double Lung Transplant

3 February 2021 – The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped lifesaving transplants from occurring at UPMC-managed in ISMETT Palermo, Italy. The hospital, which has provided the region with world-class transplant and high-specialty care for more than two decades, is a public-private partnership between UPMC and the region of Sicily.

Most recently, a young patient from Sicily suffering from terminal respiratory failure underwent a successful bilateral lung transplant under the care of an all-female surgical team—a first for ISMETT.

Drs. Lavinia De Monte and Domenica Giunta led the complex procedure, preparing the recipient for transplant in synchrony with Dr. Giorigia Tancredi, who traveled beyond Sicily to harvest the donor lungs during a three-hour long operation and transport them back to ISMETT.