J. Sebastian Danobeitia, MD, PhD, has joined the medical staff at Baylor Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute. An abdominal transplant surgeon specializing in liver, kidney, pancreas and islet transplantation, Dr. Danobeitia is part of the transplant team at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, part of Baylor Scott & White Health.
Physician-researchers from Baylor Scott & White Health played a prominent role at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) The Liver Meeting 2023, held Nov. 10-14 in Boston. They presented the latest insights from one of the largest multispecialty transplant centers in the nation: Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute in Dallas.
For patients with advanced chronic kidney disease, getting a preemptive kidney transplant may lead to a longer and healthier life. A preemptive kidney transplant is when a patient receives a new kidney before he or she needs to go on dialysis.
Three new organ preservation systems allow transplant surgeons to travel farther distances to procure donor livers and provide the ability to better assess potential donor livers that may have borderline function. Through the use of these new preservation systems, Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute has greatly expanded its options for accepting donor livers, especially extended criteria livers that may not have been accepted in the past.
Living liver donors report an immense emotional and spiritual benefit from knowing they are saving the life of a loved one. However, it is impossible to overlook the surgical trauma, cosmetic scars and surgical risks to which otherwise healthy donors are exposed with this major operation. To mitigate the potential harm to donors, Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute has begun performing robotic living donor hepatectomies, one of only two programs in the United States to do so. The transplant team recently performed its 21st robotic living donor hepatectomy.
