Like all transplant recipients, patients who have received a liver transplant have complex and unique medical needs. Physicians who are following these patients must be proactive about preventive care, recognize potential complications and manage any post-transplant conditions that develop.
In March, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) launched a new policy for matching kidney transplant candidates with organs from deceased donors. Donated kidneys are now offered first to candidates listed at transplant hospitals within 250 nautical miles of the donor hospital. A kidney that is not accepted for any of these candidates will then be offered to candidates beyond the 250 nautical mile distance.
Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute is a leader in the field of transplant in numerous areas. Today, they are responsible for one more: Baylor Scott & White Health has the largest team of female abdominal transplant surgeons in the United States.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) were once common categories for referral to lung transplant. However, advances in medical therapies have allowed many patients with these diseases to avoid transplant. Today, at most transplant centers throughout the world, lung transplants are being performed on increasingly older patients, primarily with interstitial lung disease (ILD) followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Unlike CF and PH, few treatments with the ability to extend survival currently exist for ILD, specifically idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and COPD. When these patients continue to decline despite maximized medical therapy, surgical options may be indicated.
Editorial by Todd Grazia, MD, Chief of Transplant Pulmonology, Baylor University Medical Center
When SARS Co-V2 arrived on U.S. shores in early 2020, physicians in all specialties faced an enormous learning curve. As many have said, we didn’t know what we didn’t know about the coronavirus. Some patients seemed to skate through the infection, while others were laid up with flu-like symptoms for a few weeks, and yet others developed severe respiratory failure from ARDS and died. Pulmonologists and intensivists were tasked with caring for and trying to treat a critical patient population whose lungs seemed to be systematically attacked, and often, permanently damaged by the virus. As the pandemic continued to rage and upend lives, transplant pulmonologists faced a daunting ethical dilemma: Should we or should we not consider lung transplantation for patients with irreversible lung damage from COVID-19?
