A woman in her 60s hospitalized in Aichi Prefecture was declared legally brain-dead Wednesday, paving the way for the nation's eighth series of organ transplants from a brain-dead donor.
Doctors at Fujita Health University Hospital pronounced the woman brain-dead at 3:19 p.m. Wednesday after conducting tests based on the 1997 Organ Transplant Law. The woman had been hospitalized for a stroke.
The woman's organ-donor card indicated her consent to having organs such as the lungs, liver and pancreas transplanted, and her family approved the donation, officials with the Japan Organ Transplant Network said. The network is currently selecting organ recipients, they added.
The hospital contacted the network early Monday, and transplant coordinators then explained the donation to the woman's family and obtained their approval, the officials said.
The network also clarified that doctors had conducted two rounds of brain-death tests because they thought the initial testing was affected by drugs the woman had been administered.
The most recent transplants from a brain-dead donor took place in late April using organs harvested from a woman in her 50s who was declared brain-dead at Kyorin University Hospital in Mitaka, western Tokyo.
A total of 25 people have received hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases and kidneys in the past seven transplant cases in Japan.