A grueling medical marathon began last Friday when a teenage boy from Greece collapsed from heatstroke during the country’s heatwave. The particular case is exacerbated by the fact that the teen has a rare but serious condition known as anhidrosis, which prevents the body from sweating. The boy, named Dimitris, developed acute liver failure.
The 15-year-old teen from the central Greece region of Farsala suffered severe heatstroke while hiking in Greece’s picturesque mountains around Metsovo.
Dimitris was initially being treated in the Greek regional hospital of northwest Greece in Ioannina, then was transferred to the ICU in Patras, and is now in an Italian hospital in the city of Turin, awaiting a liver transplant.
Time is of the essence. Doctors have set a 48-hour deadline for the transplant to take place, but Greek and Italian doctors remain optimistic about finding a compatible liver donor.
Dimitris is currently on mechanical support and is first on the waiting list for a compatible liver transplant, both in Greece and in Italy.
In a meeting between Greek and Italian doctors, the possibility of a dual transplant was discussed as a last resort if a compatible donor is not found in time. This would involve first transplanting an incompatible liver to stabilize the patient while awaiting a compatible match in intensive care.
Commenting on the situation to Greek media, Dr. Andreas Iliadis, head of the Pediatric ICU at Rio Hospital, also emphasized the urgency of the situation.
Following his successful transfer to Turin, Dr. Iliadis told ERT, “Now comes the hard part. That’s why I’m speaking to you today — to remind everyone how important and timely the issue of organ donation is. The organ we are desperately searching for to save young Dimitris is a liver.”
“But for a liver to become available, sadly, someone must be declared brain-dead — in other words, must have passed away. Italy, being a much larger country than ours, has placed Dimitris at the top of its priority list,” he added.
“I want to believe that Dimitris will return strong and smiling. It’s a promise we’ve all made to his family,” Dr. Iliadis concluded.
