UMC LEGACY CONTINUES THROUGH HEART, KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS

Organ transplants at the University of Mississippi Medical Center are as much a part of the fabric of the institution as training tomorrow’s health professionals.

After all, it was here where Dr. James Hardy, professor of surgery and first chairman of the department, performed the world’s first lung transplant and the world’s first heart transplant in man. That legacy lives on through the heart and kidney transplant services at UMC – the only center for transplants in the State of Mississippi.

Because of Mississippi’s high incidence of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases are prevalent. As a result, UMC has made a commitment to meeting the needs of Mississippians for heart and kidney transplants.

With survival rates at the national level for both services, the institution is succeeding in its efforts.

“I saw patients this morning who were transplanted 22 years ago, and they are still doing great and feeling well,” said Dr. Shirley Schlessinger, associate dean for graduate medical education, who monitors patients post transplantation. “We have excellent outcomes.”

Jackson resident Marie Johnson said she believes injuries from a vehicle accident led to her renal failure in 1999. She was on the transplant list for more than three years before she got the call that a kidney had been found for her. She had her surgery at UMC.

“I’m glad I went to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Things worked out very well, and I haven’t had any problems,” she said.

Johnson must take antirejection medication three times a day and comes to the outpatient clinic every six months for check-ups.

Better immunosuppressant drugs have helped to improve patients’ survival rates. In fact, the medications are so good now that kidney transplant recipients are dying from heart attacks instead of complications with the kidney, Schlessinger said.

That’s why UMC has a strong multispecialty team to work with patients post transplant to help them maintain their health. The team consists of dieticians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and physicians, including radiologists and pathologists. They all, in conjunction with the patient’s primary physician, work to provide continuity of care for the patient’s overall health.

Schlessinger stresses the importance of a good working relationship with a patient’s primary nephrologist, and she praises the work of the state’s nephrologists who do an excellent job of caring for their patients.

Dr. Henry Barber, professor of surgery, performs kidney transplants here, and Dr. Alan Hawxby, chief of the Division of Transplant, joined the faculty March 1. Schlessinger said that addition will allow UMC to help more Mississippians.

“We hope to increase the number of transplants substantially and do more living donor transplants,” she said.

Over the last five years, UMC has averaged 20-25 kidney transplants and seven-to-14 heart transplants annually. Since Hawxby’s arrival, the number of transplants totaled 43 as of June 8.

Dr. Charles Moore, associate professor of medicine and medical director of the heart transplant service, said he evaluates heart failure patients for transplant and tries to stabilize them as they wait for a donor heart. He works closely with patients’ primary physicians.

“Our program is right at the national average, which is 85 percent survival after one year, and the average survival for heart transplant patients is between nine and 10 years,” Moore said. “This is the result of better surgical techniques and chiefly better medications.”

Heart transplant is the fourth most common transplant operation in the U.S., with more than 2,200 cases per year. Only cornea, kidney and liver transplants are more common. UMC has transplanted heart failure patients ranging in age from 6 to 68.

Lasting up to seven hours (and sometimes longer), the surgery is time-consuming and the work is intricate and involved, said Dr. Giorgio Aru, professor of surgery and heart transplant surgeon. 

“For me, each transplant is like a miracle. Someone donates a precious life and we deliver this gift to the recipient,” he said. “Our biggest challenge and commitment today is to improve the donation rate.”

Schlessinger agrees that organ donation rates are lagging.

“We’ve seen some increases in deceased and living donors, but we’re still far behind,” she said.

The Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) is working with hospitals around the state to improve organ donation.

Johnson wrote a letter through MORA to the family of her organ donor.

“I thanked them for being able to have the heart to donate an organ for someone else. I will forever be thankful for them and their family member,” she said.

Schlessinger said “through increased donation, additional faculty and staff at the Medical Center and greater attention to the team approach to health, patients awaiting heart or kidney transplants can be assured that they will receive the best care possible.” 

—Patrice Sawyer Guilfoyle (6-18-07)

2007-06-18 00:00:00 17027