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 LIVING-DONOR TRANSPLANTS
ON THE RISE
BY BOB REEVES -- Lincoln Journal Star
Sixteen years ago, as a financial feasibility analyst
for the state Health Department, Don Smith helped approve the organ transplant
program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Last year, he became a living organ donor, giving a lobe
of his lung to his niece, Heather Penick.
On Oct. 5, Penick, whose lungs had deteriorated from
cystic fibrosis, became the first recipient of a living-donor lung transplant
at Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis. The lobe from Smith
- one-fifth of his lung capacity - plus one from her husband, Phill Penick,
gave her a whole new set of lungs.
"It was obvious to me it was a low-risk, high return
project," Smith said. "I was willing to endure some pain to give Heather
a chance at a healthy life."
Dr. Soon Park, who led the surgical teams that performed
the transplants, said Penick's success offers hope to other patients on
long waiting lists for transplants.
"I am amazed by the altruism of these two donors who
have chosen to come forward to make this kind of gift," he said.
Don Smith |
In 1988, there were 33 living organ transplants - all
kidneys - nationwide. Last year, there were 1,880 living donor transplants
- 1,763 kidney, 107 liver, eight lung, three pancreas and one intestine.
The Medical Center's Lied Transplant Center in Omaha
performs about 30 living-donor kidney transplants annually. Its first living-donor
liver transplant was in February.
Living donors must be carefully screened to be sure they
are giving an organ willingly and are in excellent health, said Dr. Deb
Sudan, transplant surgeon at the Omaha center.
Fairview-University Medical Center, which is part of
the University of Minnesota, is the nation's leader in living-donor transplants,
reported Barbara Elick, administrator of transplant services there. More
than 2,700 living-donor procedures, mostly kidney and pancreas transplants,
have been performed there since 1963, she said.
"The reason we're so aggressive with living donors is
we know the scarcity of cadaver transplants," she said.
And, Elick said, a better match is possible because "we
know a lot more about the whole genetic makeup of the donor than we do with
cadaver organs.
Most living-donor transplants come from relatives, but
occasionally they come from friends or even people who don't know the recipient,
she said.
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