Boy 'smallest' to get new lungs

 10 May 2011 Last updated at 20:07 ET  His mother, Rebecca Prentice, said Mason had much more energy A four-year-old boy has become one of the smallest people in the UK to have a successful lung transplant.

Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London carried out the transplant involving Mason Lewis, measuring 93cm (3ft) tall.

He received lungs which were 11cm (4.3in) long during an operation lasting about eight hours.

Mason, of Atherstone, Warwickshire, has suffered from pulmonary hypertension (PH) since birth.

Experts said he was among the youngest people with PH in the UK to successfully undergo a lung transplant.

Mason's consultant Dr Helen Spencer added that he had "done well" since the operation and that echocardiograms had shown the health of his heart was improving after the pressure on it was reduced as a result of the transplant.

His mother, Rebecca Prentice, and father, Steven Lewis, said the decision to allow their son to have the operation was "easy".

Miss Prentice 33, said her son now had much more energy.

"He's always been a happy child," she said. "His body can keep up with him now."

'Eternally grateful'

Miss Prentice said she was indebted to the clinical team and "eternally grateful to the donor family".

She added: "We cannot imagine what they went through. They lost a child and have displayed courage and selflessness."

Dr Helen Spencer said he had been "incredibly lucky"

People with PH have pulmonary arteries with thicker, less elastic walls.

As a result, the heart struggles to pump blood to the lungs and has to work harder than normal.

The person is often breathless as a result.

Prof Martin Elliott, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery who carried out the transplant, said: "The operation is the same as for larger people, but obviously one needs greater precision and delicacy."

He said surgeons used magnifying lenses during the operation and smaller stitches which eventually dissolve, reducing the risk of creating scar tissue which could inhibit future growth.

Mason waited a matter of weeks after he was put on the transplant list in January.

Dr Spencer added: "We are really pleased to see his family in a position to return home.

"He has been incredibly lucky, not only to have a transplant but to receive one so quickly...

"At Great Ormond Street Hospital, candidates considered for lung transplant would normally be over the age of three and more than 100cm in height.

"We hope the fact we have been able to do this in someone as small as Mason will offer hope for patients like him in the future."