A teenage girl with an organ donor card was declared brain-dead at a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture on Saturday, setting in motion attempts to identify recipients for her organs, officials of the Japan Organ Transplant Network said.
The girl, who was hospitalized following a traffic accident, was pronounced brain-dead at Tokushukai Hospital in Kasuga after doctors conducted two rounds of legally required tests on her, the officials said.
The network said it began selecting recipients for the organs after the girl's family gave the go-ahead for transplant procedures.
The National Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Kyoto University Hospital, Okayama University Hospital, and a hospital affiliated with Tohoku University's Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer are preparing to transplant the girl's heart, liver and lungs, the officials said.
Doctors pronounced the girl brain-dead at 5:48 a.m., following tests which began Friday evening. They previously conducted examinations Monday, but the criteria were not fulfilled, the officials said.
The girl is the ninth person pronounced brain-dead under the 1997 Organ Transplant Law. The first transplants under the law were conducted in February last year.
Police also said they have had to carry out inquiries concerning the girl because she was certified brain-dead following an accident.
In June, a woman in her 60s was declared brain-dead in Aichi Prefecture, but her organs were not suitable to be used in transplant operations.
A total of 25 people have received organs from brain-dead people in the seven transplant operations in Japan since they were legalized.