Japan Infant Has Life-Saving Heart Transplant in California

A one-year-old Japanese boy with a serious heart problem has had a life-saving heart transplant surgery at a U.S. hospital that he was barred from having in his own country.

Kazuki Kurosaka from the city of Kusatsu successfully underwent the transplant surgery at Loma Linda University Hospital in California. The boy had suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes the heart muscles to enlarge.

In Japan, organs from children younger than 15 cannot be used for transplants.

Because the process of matching transplant hearts is based roughly on body weight and heart size, doctors stand little chance of finding a suitable donor heart for infants in Japan.

Other sources: Japan Media