On September 24, Okayama University Hospital announced that it successfully transplanted parts of a mother's left lung to both lungs of her son (a two years and nine months old boy from Saitama Prefecture) suffering from idiopathic interstitial pneumonia. This was the first transplant surgery in the world using the smallest possible functioning sections of a lung, and the youngest case of a lower lobe lung transplant from a living donor in Japan.

The surgery was carried out on August 31 by a team led by Chief Lung Transplant Surgeon Dr. Takahiro Oto (thoracic surgeon). The lower lobe of the mother's left lung was divided into sections and transplanted in an 11-hour operation.

Dr. Oto said that the successful application of this new surgical method would bring hope to more children and their families.