Archbishop to have transplant
Archbishop Christodoulos will travel to the USA next month to undergo an urgent liver transplant so his cancer does not spread, his doctors said yesterday. Greek-American surgeon Andreas Tzakis announced the decision at a press conference after consultation with the doctors that have been treating the head of the Church of Greece at the Aretaio hospital in Athens. «The size of the tumor means radiation treatment would probably be ineffective,» said Tzakis, a transplant surgeon at the University of Miami medical center. Christodoulos, 68, appears to have overcome the intestinal problems for which he was first hospitalized on June 9. The archbishop is expected to leave the hospital in a few days and will travel to the USA at some point after August 15. He has already been put on a waiting list for a new liver. «We decided to proceed with a transplant as soon as possible – within the next six weeks – as soon as he is able to undergo the procedure,» said Tzakis. «Otherwise, there is a danger that the cancer could spread.»
