Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a major driver of liver-related morbidity and mortality across the world. There are 2.4 billion alcohol users (950 million heavy alcohol users) and between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 people abuse or misuse alcohol. Combined, alcohol-associated cirrhosis and liver cancer account for 1 out of every 100 deaths worldwide.
Acuity circles (AC) liver allocation policy was implemented to eliminate donor service area geographic boundaries from liver allocation and to decrease variability in median model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score at transplant and wait list mortality. A team of researchers at Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute found that the new policy also significantly increased transportation costs and acquisition fees.
Transplant surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, recently performed their first robotic kidney transplant. While robotic donor nephrectomies have been performed for more than five years, this was the program’s first robotic kidney transplant recipient surgery and the first such transplant in Texas.
Mother’s Day was more special than usual for the women who have gone through the Uterus Transplant Program at Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas), part of Baylor Scott & White Health. On May 7, Baylor Dallas hosted a reunion at the Dallas Arboretum for the women who received a uterus transplant, the 15 babies born so far and their families. Most of the recipients were joined by the living uterus donors who are so vital to the success of the program.
Patients experiencing the intractable pain of chronic pancreatitis may be candidates for total pancreatectomy followed by autologous islet cell transplantation (TPIAT). This innovative procedure has been documented to be very effective in controlling pain and restoring insulin secretion in a large number of patients. Baylor University Medical Center, (Baylor Dallas) part of Baylor Scott & White Health, has performed more than 200 successful islet cell transplants, placing it among the top five centers in the United States based on total case volume of this procedure.
