Surgeons perform world's first successful lung transplant between HIV-positive patients
Surgeons perform world's first successful lung transplant between HIV-positive patients
Updated at: June 22, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Medical history was made on March 21, 2026, at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute in New York.
Surgeons successfully performed the world’s first lung transplant from an HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient.
The recipient, 56-year-old Bertrand Nelson, had lived with HIV for over 25 years while battling sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease.
His health declined severely after contracting Legionnaires' disease, eventually requiring him to rely on supplemental oxygen.
Halazun performed a combined double-lung and liver transplant on Nelson.
This breakthrough is a watershed moment for transplant medicine, as it successfully expands the donor pool for HIV-positive patients who were previously ineligible.
