Dr. Rudolf Garcia-Gallont

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Dr. Rudolf Garcia-Gallont is a leading figure in the field of vascular surgery and organ transplantation in Central America. Although Dr. Garcia-Gallont is most respected for his skills in performing complex vascular procedures, kidney transplants, and advanced laparoscopic cases, he meets with new patients every day for consultations regarding all general surgery options.

He performed the first pediatric kidney transplant in Guatemala in 1988. Dr. Garcia-Gallont says, “I trained in Germany in solid organ transplantation and began clinical transplantation in 1989 with a pediatric Living Related Donor program at the University General Hospital” in Guatemala City. He is a promoter of ethical practices in organ transplantation, and as a member of various international organizations, he has been able to achieve high goals in protecting the safety and dignity of transplant donors and recipients around the world. For this reason, he is a highly respected expert speaker and guest of honor at congresses and symposia in several countries throughout The Americas and Europe.

Dr. Garcia-Gallont says, “I belong to the “Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group. Our group collaborates in keeping all organ transplantation free of commercialism, transplant tourism, organ sale, unethical sources like impoverished or imprisoned “donors”, and have so far been very successful. Ethical practices related to organ donation and transplantation are of utmost importance in our program, and this principle is shared by the whole group.

The doctor explains that being able to perform the first liver transplant in Guatemala in 2022 was an honor and a privilege. The recipient was a 59-year-old woman with primary biliary cirrhosis, an autoimmune disease that causes progressive deterioration of the liver, creating debilitating scars that inhibit full function. In the most generous gesture of love, and with a year of preparation, her daughter donated 60% of her liver, which has since been regenerated, so that both procedures were regarded as a great success.

He agrees that if liver transplantation becomes an option for North American patients, we can surely keep expenses significantly lower, including surgery and hospital stay, for the donor and their recipient. In the United States, this procedure can cost half a million dollars, which is why Guatemala might be more accessible for the patients. Clinical workup protocols for pre-operative evaluation would be carefully agreed upon with the treating physicians in the United States, as well as the protocols for induction and immunosuppression for the early post-transplant period, before returning home.

Patients who come to Dr. Garcia-Gallont for routine minimally invasive general and abdominal surgeries would want to know that he was one of the pioneers of laparoscopic surgery in Guatemala during the 1990’s, with support of the high-tech instrumentation of the Tecno-Med group. This year, decades later, he is an expert in using the latest techniques to give the patient minimal pain and scarring, and faster recovery.

Dr. Garcia-Gallont has authored textbook chapter in various university textbooks: “Peripheral Vascular Surgery” in R. Pichlmar’s Chirurgische Praxis, Germany, and “Disorders of the Gallbladder and Biliary Tract” in Cecil’s Essentials of Modern Medicine. He has also authored or co-authored 27 scientific publications in International Medical Journals in English, German and Spanish. He speaks these three languages fluently.

As the charity founder of the first permanent dialysis unit for low-income patients in Guatemala, or as the president of the hospital board of directors, Dr. Rudolf Garcia-Gallont demonstrates his brilliant skills and humble dedication to devote his life to the service of those in need.