Princess Alexandra Hospital Celebrates 40 Years of Life-Saving Liver Transplants

At the Princess Alexandra Hospital, a quiet moment of gratitude spoke volumes this week as hundreds gathered to celebrate 40 years since Australia’s first liver transplant, a medical milestone that has saved thousands of lives around the world.

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Among the guests was Iichurou Tsuruyama, who travelled from Japan to honour the pioneering surgeon whose bold vision and surgical innovation gave him a second chance at life nearly four decades ago. At just 17 months old, Mr Tsuruyama became the first person in the world to receive a liver transplant from a living donor — his mother — made possible by a breakthrough known as the “Brisbane technique”.

Developed by Queensland surgeon Professor Russell Strong, the Brisbane technique allowed adult livers to be safely reduced in size for transplantation into children. It addressed the critical shortage of paediatric-sized donor organs and opened the door to living donor procedures, saving countless young lives. Mr Tsuruyama is one of many who owe their survival to this innovation, which remains a cornerstone of paediatric liver transplants worldwide.

Professor Strong’s work was not always welcomed. In the 1980s, his determination to establish Australia’s first liver transplant unit met resistance, scepticism and even public condemnation. Despite the backlash, he performed the country’s first child liver transplant in 1985, and shortly after, developed the technique that would change transplant surgery globally.

Over time, the Brisbane technique evolved to enable split liver transplants, allowing one donor organ to save both a child and an adult. Today, this approach is used in three-quarters of child liver transplant operations across the globe.

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At the anniversary function, guests paid tribute not only to Professor Strong and his team but also to the donors and families whose generosity underpins every transplant. For Mr Tsuruyama — now a father himself — the celebration was deeply personal. His life, and the life of his daughter, are testaments to how one revolutionary idea at Princess Alexandra Hospital continues to shape the future of medicine.

Published 31-July-2025