Medical Center.
The moment the conference room doors opened, dozens of eyes turned toward them.
Dozens of eyes on the doctors' side turned back at the same time.
"Twelve surgeries—six pairs of kidney transplants—all performing paired kidney exchanges simultaneously."
Dr. Bailey was brimming with confidence. "Six people will donate kidneys to six strangers, and six people will receive kidneys from strangers. Twelve people will leave the hospital happy."
"Domino Surgery!"
Lexie, who had the same photographic memory and was a walking encyclopedia, immediately caught on.
"That's right!"
Dr. Bailey gave Lexie an approving look. "Like dominoes—once it starts, they all start."
"So far, only Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has successfully performed one in the entire country."
Adam smiled. "This will be the second case in the world. Quite a grand undertaking."
The difficulty with kidney transplants lay in finding compatible matches. Sometimes, a donor's kidney could not be transplanted into the patient they wished to donate it to.
The emergence of the Domino Surgery concept provided more options in such situations.
Patient A's family member might want to donate a kidney to their loved one. Though incompatible with that relative, they might be compatible with Patient B, who also needed a kidney transplant.
And Patient B's donor might happen to be compatible with Patient A.
That way, the two sides could exchange donors, allowing both transplants to proceed.
But in reality, finding two mutually compatible pairs was difficult.
Usually, six pairs were needed before everyone could be matched.
Of course, sometimes even more pairs were required.
But that would place too great a burden on the medical team.
Six pairs and twelve surgeries required at least fifteen doctors working simultaneously.
It was a major test of the lead surgeon's operational, coordination, and emergency-response abilities.
As for why they could