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In Monaco, the patellar tendon taken from a 55-year-old woman made it possible to treat her own daughter, victim of several ruptures of the cruciate ligaments. A donation prohibited in France, but a world first in terms of surgery.
A mother’s love for her children can be expressed in many ways. In Monaco, it took an unprecedented form: a patella donation, never performed before in the history of medicine. On October 8, Patricia, 55, and Kiara, 20, both French, were operated on at IM2S in Monaco to remove the patellar tendon from the mother and proceed to a transplant to repair yet another rupture of the cruciate ligament. anterior on the girl. After the operation, the two women are doing well and are recovering according to information from nice morning, which tells the beautiful story. Kiara, at the end of her rehabilitation, should even go back to the rugby stadiums, which she practices with passion.
A story with twists and turns for a world first
Achieving this solution was not an easy journey, however, since patella donation is prohibited in France. Pr Christophe Trojani, orthopedic surgeon, evokes it in the lines of the daily newspaper: “I saw Kiara for the first time. Although she had undergone multiple operations on both knees, the therapeutic options for repairing a new ACL fracture were limited. So I proposed a reconstruction with a tendon taken from a deceased donor“.
“Can’t you take a tendon from my own knee? Richard Berry did donate a kidney to his sister!” would have retorted the mother.
But the idea, as beautiful and generous as it is, encounters a major obstacle: this donation is not authorized in France. From a living donor, it is in fact only possible to remove a kidney, a lung or hepatic lobe.
The official procedures then began: the surgeon turned to the Regional Health Agency and the Biomedicine Agency, but was met with a clear refusal. He then goes to the court which gives him an authorization, but the Biomedicine agency renews its refusal. The idea then came to him to contact the Principality of Monaco, a few kilometers away. The Department of Social Affairs and Health, as well as the Ethics Advisory Committee for Monegasque biomedical research, gave it a favorable opinion.
Ten months later, the operation takes place, not in France therefore, but at the IM2S in Monaco. Not covered in France, because prohibited, the intervention was entirely financed by the Principality of Monaco.
A possible donation in the future?
This patellar tendon allograft is a world first. Only one hamstring transplant from living donors had been performed in children in Australia. The process is not over: it is necessary to ensure in the coming months that there is good compatibility and that there is no rejection in the transplanted patient. But if this first is a success, why not revise the living gift and develop medicine? The surgeon is optimistic:
“If the success is confirmed, this allograft option from a living donor could represent real progress; it could even be considered as first-line treatment, in a situation like that of Kiara and her mother. Donating her tendon to her child , when he is a high-level athlete in particular, it is to offer him the possibility of recovering more quickly, and to avoid certain operations.