Eirini
Eirini is a Greek student, born in 1998, living in the Netherlands for her studies. In October 2026 she underwent a super-urgent liver transplant at Turin's Molinette hospital, part of the Città della Salute e della Scienza, which saved her life after a severe crisis caused by Wilson's disease, a rare genetic disorder characterised by the accumulation of copper in the liver.[1][2][3]
The crisis in Greece and the transfer to Turin
While in Greece, Eirini suffered fulminant liver failure, which rapidly progressed to multi-organ failure. She was admitted to the Hippokration General Hospital in Athens, where her condition deteriorated to the point that, according to sources, she had only a few hours left to live.[1][2][3] Faced with the emergency, a request for help was sent from Greece to Italy: the National Transplant Centre in Rome, headed by Giuseppe Feltrin, activated the cooperation protocol between Italy and Greece on organ transplants, finding availability with Professor Renato Romagnoli, director of Turin's Liver Transplant Centre and regional transplant coordinator for Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta.[1][2][3] The Piedmont Regional Transplant Centre, headed by Federico Genzano, organised the transfer by medical aircraft to Turin-Caselle airport; from there the patient, unconscious, intubated and on mechanical ventilation, was taken to the Molinette hospital.[1][2][3]
The transplant
After evaluation by the team of Dr Silvia Martini, director of the Hepatology Intensive Care Unit, Eirini was placed within minutes on the national list for a super-urgent liver transplant. While waiting, she was kept alive by the Central Intensive Care Unit, headed by Maurizio Berardino, and underwent plasmapheresis activated by the Blood Bank, headed by Tiziana Francisci, to remove the copper released by the liver necrosis.[1][2][3] Once a compatible liver became available from a deceased donor in a nearby region, twelve hours after her arrival at the Molinette, Eirini went into surgery for an operation lasting around ten hours: the 4,470th liver transplant carried out by the Turin centre.[1][2][3]
The post-operative course and discharge
Her extremely serious initial condition made the post-operative course complex, with complications that required three months in hospital and the involvement of several specialities: transplant surgery, anaesthesia, intensive care, hepatology, nephrology (headed by Luigi Biancone), infectious diseases (headed by Francesco De Rosa), diagnostic radiology (headed by Paolo Fonio) and interventional radiology (headed by Andrea Doriguzzi).[1][2][3] Eirini was eventually discharged in full physical and psychological recovery, with the prospect of returning to Greece shortly. The young woman thanked everyone who helped save her life; the general director of the Città della Salute, Livio Tranchida, described the episode as "a true miracle of life" and "a great gift of life: a new liver".[3]
Chronology
- — At Turin's Molinette hospital, a super-urgent liver transplant saves the life of Eirini, a 28-year-old Greek student struck in Greece by fulminant liver failure caused by Wilson's disease, urgently transferred to Italy under the Italy-Greece transplant cooperation protocol. → TorinoOggi CronacaQui Torino
Related articles: Liver transplant in super-urgency saves Eirini at the Molinette hospital (11 October 2026), Renato Romagnoli
Sources
- TorinoOggi — 11 October 2026
- CronacaQui Torino — 11 October 2026
- Il Torinese — 11 October 2026