CHICAGO (CBS)– Surgeons at Northwestern Memorial Hospital performed a double lung transplant on a patient whose lungs were irreversibly damaged by COVID-19.
The patient is a woman in her twenties, who spent six weeks on a ventilator. Doctors said for many days, she was the sickest patient in the COVID ICU and possibly the entire hospital.
READ MORE: Indiana State Trooper Helps Rescue Abandoned Dog Running Through Traffic On I-65The transplant was her only hope for survival and she had to be clear of the virus before it could be performed.
READ MORE: 14-Year-Old Charged In West Garfield Park CarjackingNorthwestern is one of the first health systems to successfully perform the double lung transplant on a COVID patient.
MORE NEWS: Pickpockets Travel More Than 1,000 Miles To Steal Phones At Lollapalooza, But Some Victims Got Their Phones BackThe surgeons say they hope their success will spur other hospitals to offer the procedure.
