July 10, 2003
Latest Transplant Statistics Support
High-Volume Excellence Among Teaching Hospitals
(Philadelphia, PA) - The latest
report from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients
confirms that high-volume, academic medical centers
have the best health outcomes for transplant procedures
of all kinds. The report, citing five years of accumulated
data from 1998, shows that the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania (HUP) has the highest one-year survival
rates among high-volume facilities in the city for all
major transplant procedures.
HUP's Multi-Organ Transplant Program, begun in 1966,
is ranked among the top, by volume, in the nation. Nearly
40 per cent of all types of transplants in Philadelphia
are performed at HUP -- the only hospital in the city
to perform all major solid organ transplants, including
multi-organ transplants.
"The evidence clearly shows that, for transplant procedures,
the greater the experience, the better the results,"
said Abraham Shaked, MD, Chief of the Division of Transplantation
Surgery at HUP and Director of the PENN Transplant Center.
"We are the experts in performing these complex procedures,
and we are better able to manage the patients at the
time of transplant and in the long run. Our survival
rates during the operation and immediately after are
excellent when compared to the other centers in our
region, or the national outcomes."
Indeed, on average, at least one transplant procedure
was performed each day at HUP in 2002 - by year's end,
the number had reached 391 transplantations. In addition
to solid organ procedures, HUP transplant specialists
are adept at all types of more complicated cases --
including adult-to-adult, living donor liver transplantation
(one of only nine centers in the US participating in
an NIH-sponsored study to determine the safety and outcome
of the procedure), and split-liver transplants (in which
the larger section of a donated liver is given to an
adult, and the smaller section to a child.) In fact,
HUP is the only facility in Philadelphia that performs
joint heart-liver and liver-lung transplants.
Another advantage to the clinical excellence of the
transplant program at HUP is the round-the-clock availability
of all members of the transplant team - including surgeons,
nurses, anesthesiologists, transplant coordinators,
social workers, etc.
"Transplant procedures are fast-paced; you can have
only hours within which to operate, or the patient will
die," said Michael Acker, MD, Surgical Director for
Heart Transplants at HUP. "Within hours, I can have
every member of the transplant team ready."
The transplant team at HUP totals nearly 80 specialists
(including 40 physicians and nurses), and it performs
over 700 consultations per year.
The first transplant performed at HUP occurred 37 years
ago, and involved the donation of a kidney from one
brother to another. The recipient, now 60 years old,
is still alive -- with a healthy, functioning donated
kidney.
More than 1,300 Philadelphians, and nearly 82,000 Americans,
are currently on waiting lists for organs. Wait times
vary, depending upon the severity of the patient's health
and need for transplantation. Kidneys are in greatest
demand, with wait times of up to six years.
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients report,
based at the University of Michigan, is a federally
funded project dedicated to monitoring transplantation
outcomes in the United States. Copies of the report
can be found on its website at: www.ustransplant.org
# # #
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP),
founded in 1874 as the nation's first teaching hospital,
is today ranked consistently by US News & World Report
as one of the nation's "Honor Roll" hospitals. HUP physicians
are faculty in the University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine -- which is ranked #4 in the nation by US
News & World Report in its annual survey of research-oriented
medical schools. Penn's School of Medicine is also ranked
#2 in the nation for receipt of NIH research funds.
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