Late last year, a Chicago man and Detroit woman underwent back-to-back triple-organ (liver-kidney-heart) transplants. The two surgeries lasted more than 17 and 20 hours, respectively, from Dec. 19 to 21.

It was the first time a U.S. hospital has performed more than one liver-kidney-heart transplant within one year. Teams of surgeons at University of Chicago Medicine (UChicago Medicine) performed the two most recent triple-organ transplants in just 72 hours.

These procedures marked the 16th and 17th liver-kidney-heart transplants performed in the country since 1989, according to a Department of Health and Human Services database.

UChicago Medicine has been a leader in transplantation since 1904, when cardiac surgeon Alexis Carrel developed pioneering vascular suturing techniques, which made organ transplantation possible. UChicago Medicine researchers pioneered the study of bone marrow transplantation and performed the first successful living-donor liver transplant ever performed, and the first segmental and split-liver transplants in the nation.

With these two new procedures, UChicago Medicine has now performed more of these procedures than any other institution in the world. Surgeons from the institution had performed heart-liver-kidney transplants in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2011.

Meet the Recipients: Sarah and Daru

Sarah McPharlin of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, and Daru Smith of Chicago had different medical conditions. 29-year-old McPharlin underwent a heart transplant at the age of 12 after developing giant cell myocarditis but experienced a variety of complications over the next 17 years that led to failure of the transplanted heart. After other institutions said they would be unable to perform the necessary triple-organ transplant, McPharlin arrived at University of Chicago Medicine in November.

There, she met Smith during pre-therapy sessions. He was also 29 at the time, a truck driver and a father. Smith had multi-system sarcoidosis and diabetes that led to heart, hepatic and renal failure. His cardiac function had dipped to 15 percent.

While the two met during the pre-therapy sessions, they did not disclose details about their upcoming transplants, so they did not initially know that they were both waiting for a triple-organ transplant. McPharlin’s mother eventually got Smith to divulge which organs he was awaiting.

Smith’s surgery started at 15:07 hours on Dec. 19 and took 17 hours and 11 minutes to complete. The surgeons learned that donor organs were available for McPharlin just 8 minutes after finishing Smith’s transplant. Sarah’s surgery began at 1804 hours on Dec. 20, and it lasted 20 hours and 23 minutes.

Each surgery required a 22-person team. Some of the surgical staff worked on both patients. Impressively, the hospital also performed five other organ transplants during that time.

"We never in our wildest dreams imagined both would take place at virtually the same time," said John Fung, MD, a transplant surgeon and co-director of the UChicago Medicine Transplantation Institute. "Pulling this off can feel like trying to perform a high-wire ballet in the middle of running a marathon. But we were always confident in our patients as well as our team’s abilities."

The two recipients recovered on the same hospital floor and drew support from one another. "It was so cool to know we would be able to see each other progress together,” said McPharlin, an occupational therapist, after the transplants. "It was really cool to see how Daru was getting up in the hall and I knew eventually, or pretty soon, I would be doing the same."

"I want my donor’s family to know I appreciate the generous decision they made during their time of grief," she said. "Organ donation works because of this selflessness. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and want to do my best to live life to its fullest as a sign of respect for the gift they gave me."