NZ's first heart-lung operation

Auckland City Hospital is planning to do the first heart-lung transplant performed in New Zealand.

A Dunedin man yesterday returned home from Auckland with the news that he was now one of two people on a new double-transplant waiting list.

Ross Hyslop, 23, an Otago Polytechnic information technology student, said it was now up to him to say when he would be ready to have the surgery and then wait for his electronic pager to call him north.

"It's a big relief to finally be getting there, but it is still pretty scary and I don't want anything to distract me."

Mr Hyslop was born with a hole in his underdeveloped right ventricle, which has strained his heart and weakened his lungs. His health has worsened since his teens, and by the start of last year "it was just about all gone".

Last month, he was considering flying to Australia - once the closest place to get the difficult operation. Then Auckland Hospital said it would start performing heart-lung transplants itself, his mother Jill said. "There are just so many hidden costs and problems with going overseas, and it is just great we have the chance to have it done in New Zealand," Mrs Hyslop said.

"Three months recovering in Auckland will be easier than all that time in Australia."

Four out of five patients survive the operation and continue to lead full lives, doctors told Mr Hyslop. He wantS to be on the right side of the statistics.

"It just makes you think," he said. "This is still pretty scary."

* Heart and lung transplants, previously based at Greenlane Hospital are now carried out at the Auckland City Hospital, along with kidney and liver transplants. Heart and lung transplants have been done regularly for the past decade.

General manager Dr Nigel Murray said double heart and lung transplants for New Zealanders had previously been performed in Australia.

"The great thing about amalgamating the hospitals is we have been able to pull together all the expertise associated with such complex surgery."