Renal and Pancreatic Transplant News
Altruistic Donor Makes NYC's First 4-Way Kidney Transplant Possible
On July 24, 2008, Dr. Lloyd Ratner led a 4-way kidney swap involving nearly 50 clinicians and eight operating rooms.
The swap, believed to be the largest yet performed in the city, took an entire day.
It was made possible by kidney donor Anthony DeGiulio, a 32-year-old securities trader from Red Hook, whose donation of his kidney made possible the chain of four transplants.
The laparoscopic technique for harvesting grafts has dramatically expanded the availability of live kidney donations for transplantation.
This approach has rapidly been adapted as a standard of care worldwide because of its considerable advantages, but transplant surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital were pioneers in this procedure and continue to perfect the protocol.
Three-Way Kidney Swap Recipients Meet their Donors
Herbert Pardes, MD, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital CEO (center) with the six transplant recipients and donors. |
On Thursday, September 6, 2007, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital held a press conference that was the setting for the emotional meeting of three kidney transplant recipients with their donors, following a successful three-way kidney swap procedure a week earlier.
The multiple transplantations were made possible through the altruism of Long Island volunteer firefighter John Feal.
The event was widely covered by media, including WNBC-TV, WABC-TV, WCBS-TV, Fox 5, NY1, WINS Radio, Associated Press, Daily News and Newsday.
The New York Post and Houston Chronicle also followed the story.
A chronic shortage of organs creates dilemmas about fairly allocating kidneys to patients with varying degrees of need, risk, and potential benefit.
Another major challenge in kidney transplantation is medical in nature – finding safe and effective ways of overcoming the body's natural tendency to reject the new kidney.
At NewYork- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, the Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation Program is leading the nation in addressing both of these critical areas.
Columbia Clinician Takes KUFA Award for Third Year Running
Lloyd E. Ratner, MD |
Dr. Lloyd E. Ratner has been awarded the 2006 National Medical Award in Transplantation from the Kidney and Urology Foundation of America.
The award honors Dr. Ratner for his contributions to the care of patients and for his innovations in the field of renal transplantation.
A nationally and internationally recognized leader in the field of transplantation, Dr. Ratner performed the world's first laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy, the world's first dual renal transplant, orchestrated the nation's first paired kidney exchange, and developed the first successful protocol for the desensitization of highly sensitized patients with living kidney donors.
Previous Columbia clinicians to receive this award are David Cohen, MD, Medical Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation at NYPH/Columbia, who received it in 2005, and Mark A. Hardy who received the award in 2004.
Dr. Lloyd Ratner with John McGuinness, the Long Island man whose gift of a kidney enabled the 3-way transplant to proceed. |
On May 30, 2006, New York City's first three-way kidney transplant was performed by six surgical transplant teams, including 40 clinicians working simultaneously in six operating rooms at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. Three patients, who otherwise had no compatible donor, received lifesaving kidneys. Such kidney swaps not only make more kidneys available, but make them available to patients earlier than they would have otherwise, helping to save lives.
The first kidney swap in New York State was performed at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical on September 29, 2004. Only a handful of kidney swaps have been performed nationwide to date. "A kidney swap, or paired exchange, essentially involves taking patients who have potential donors who are medically suitable and willing, but blood group incompatible, and swapping donors so that two patients can get kidney transplants where previously neither would have been able to," says Dr. Lloyd Ratner, Surgical Director of the Renal Transplant Program at NYPH/Columbia.
Kevan C. Herold, MD
Division of Surgical Science |
The past few years have heralded remarkable improvements in the management of type 1 diabetes. Physicians and researchers at Columbia, however, are pushing to move past successful control of the disease, and reach for a cure. One promising experimental procedure, islet cell transplantation—currently in the clinical trials stage—may offer a vital step forward in this quest. Drs. Mark Hardy and Kevan C. Herold conducted their first islet cell transplant in January 2004.
Mark A. Hardy, MD |
Former Miami Heat and New Jersey Nets star, Alonzo Mourning, took a giant step against kidney disease in late 2003 when he underwent a living donor kidney transplant at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Mark A. Hardy, MD, Auchincloss Professor of Surgery performed the transplant, while Marc Bessler, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery used a minimal access approach to remove the kidney from the donor.
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