At the point a patient with advanced lung disease is considered for transplant, he or she is severely ill. While all transplants are challenging, patients who undergo lung transplant can face a particularly rough road. To gain a more in-depth understanding of the patient under consideration, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas (Baylor Dallas), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, has embedded supportive palliative care into the lung transplant program.
Baylor Scott & White Health played a leading role at the 43rd Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions of The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), held April 19-22, 2023, in Denver, Colorado. More than 3,600 members from around the world gathered to exchange ideas and collaborate on the latest science.
Amar Gupta, MD, FRCS(C), an abdominal transplant and hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center, was skeptical about the benefits of the robotic surgical system in complex liver surgeries. He saw it as a gimmick, something that was more industry-driven than something that would offer a real benefit to patients. After a week’s observation of a surgeon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who has performed more than 200 robotic hepatectomies, Dr. Gupta became a true believer in its value.
Patients with chronic pancreatitis often experience intractable pain. Patients make frequent trips to the emergency department and may have numerous hospital admissions. They also can experience significant lifestyle disruptions and a greatly diminished quality of life.
The opioid epidemic has resulted in thousands of deaths in people infected with acute hepatitis C (HCV) due to IV drug use. Because many of these people are undiagnosed, especially in high-risk populations, many organs from HCV-positive donors are still being procured. The development of highly effective direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy has made it possible to successfully transplant HCV-positive organs into HCV-negative recipients and treat the hepatitis C post transplant.
