Doctors involved in Wednesday's live-streamed kidney transplant in Hamilton say both surgeries were successful.
"The donor surgery and the transplant surgery went off without a hitch," said Anil Kapoor, the transplant surgeon involved from St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, in a press release.
"Both patients are doing fantastic with the transplant working immediately and the kidney functioning well," Kapoor said.
Bhargav Turaga suffered from kidney disease, and his kidneys were functioning at about 5 per cent capacity. His wife, Nagamani Turaga, offered one of hers, and turned out to be a match.
Nagamani's surgery to remove one of her kidneys began at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and then the operation to transplant it into Kapoor began at 1:30 p.m.
Nagamani Turaga, left, donated a kidney to her husband, Bhargav, during a live-streamed surgery at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton Wednesday. (Facebook)
St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton live streamed the operation, with doctors taking questions from inside and outside the operating room. The procedure wrapped up around 3:30 p.m. You can watch recaps of the surgery below.
"I decided, and I offered," Turaga told CBC News in an interview earlier this week. "But it's a mutual decision and support. I just want him to be healthy."
Dr. Darin Treleaven, St. Joe's medical director of kidney transplants, said they asked the Turagas if they would be comfortable with cameras in the operating room to "throw open the doors to the community" and show the work that the hospital is doing each week.
"The amount of teamwork and happiness that goes into a kidney transplant is astounding," Treleaven said.
Watch the surgery
See the St. Joseph's Healthcare team in action in the videos below. (On the CBC News app? You can watch the videos here.)
Members of the public joined in the discussion on social media and asked doctors questions by using the hashtag #stjoeslivestream.
We collected some of your comments and questions, and responses from doctors and surgeons, inside the box below.
