Doctors at Semmelweis University have performed Hungary’s first three-way living-donor kidney cross-transplant, the institution announced at a press conference held there on Wednesday.

János Balázs Kovács, assistant professor at SE’s Department of Surgery, Transplantation, and Gastroenterology and head of the kidney transplant program, said that the six simultaneous surgeries were performed on September 23 and were successful. Five of the six patients are already home; one is still in the hospital but will be able to go home soon.

He added that the simultaneous surgeries were preceded by several months of preparatory work.

Cross-donation is possible between donors and recipients who cannot directly donate organs to one another, but organ donation can instead be made possible through another donor pair.

Attila Szijártó, the clinic director, stated that the three-way, living-donor cross-donation kidney transplant represents a major breakthrough in Hungarian transplantation, a field in which Semmelweis University leads the way in terms of both the number of surgeries and the types of procedures performed.

Two-thirds to three-quarters of the annual kidney transplant program is carried out here; of the 63 living-donor kidney transplants performed nationwide last year, 45 took place at the medical university in the capital.

The goal is to perform as many living-donor transplants as possible, and through cross-donation surgeries, to enable patients suffering from kidney failure to receive a new organ in a shorter time than is currently possible.

Until the summer of 2025, organ exchange was only possible between two couples; the first such procedure was performed earlier this year at the University of Pécs. However, following a legislative amendment last summer, multiple recipient pairs can now participate in the—otherwise anonymous—organ exchange, which significantly increases the likelihood of optimal matches and, consequently, the chances of successful kidney transplants.

According to the university’s statement, one of the patients underwent their third kidney transplant, while for the other two patients, immunological incompatibility had previously posed an insurmountable obstacle, which the three-way exchange successfully resolved.

As part of the living-donor cross-donation kidney exchange program, two women and one man received new kidneys.