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Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, was part of the medical team that performed a double lung transplant on a patient with terminal cancer, a first for the hospital system, on Sept. 25, 2021. (Courtesy of Northwestern Medicine)

Six months ago, Chicagoan Albert Khoury underwent a double lung transplant to treat stage 4 lung cancer. Today, he has no signs of cancer. The success of the surgery, a first for Northwestern Medicine, “provides new hope for lung cancer patients at Northwestern Medicine,” said surgeon Dr. Ankit Bharat.

Dr. Ankit Bharat chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program. (©Copyright 2020, Northwestern Medicine)

After six weeks on a ventilator and life-support machine, a 20-year-old woman whose lungs were damaged by COVID-19 received what is believed to be among the first double lung transplants performed on a survivor of the virus.