Surgeons perform marathon organ swap

A selfless act by an anonymous stranger triggered a medical marathon in Melbourne that could save six lives.

Surgeons performed 12 operations across four Melbourne hospitals in the nation's first six-way paired kidney-swap on Thursday, News Corp Australia reports.

The donor, whose identity is known only to medical staff, offered his kidney to a stranger, prompting a chain that saw the loved ones of five people who needed kidneys donating organs, and their loved ones receiving them.

Nephrology chief at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Professor Steve Holt, said the patients probably would not have been able to get a transplant without the program.

"This is their best chance of getting a good kidney, so it's been a real boon for everybody involved," Prof Holt told News Corp.

The 12 surgeries to remove and transplant kidneys took place at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Austin Hospital, Melbourne Private and the Monash Medical Centre with back-to-back operations starting at 8am.

Royal Melbourne Hospital surgeon Tim Furlong, who performed two of the operations, said the organ swap took months to organise.

"We had a bit of time pressure to make sure we got through all the operations," Mr Furlong told Fairfax Radio.

"When I left last night the final recipient at our hospital was just being finished up, that was at the conclusion of a normal day's operating."

It will be several days before it is known whether the transplants were successful.