Transplant Program Performs More Than 100 Transplants for Fifth Year

January 24, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – For the fifth consecutive year, the Abdominal Organ Transplantation Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has performed more than 100 transplants.

In 2006, a total of 138 patients received transplants, which ranks Wake Forest Baptist among the top 35 most active kidney and top 15 most active pancreas transplant centers in the country.

“This is an exciting time for us,” said Robert Stratta, M.D., transplant surgeon and director of the transplant program. “Our program has grown significantly over the past five years and our survival rates are among the best in the nation. We have experienced success in a number of innovative and promising new initiatives.”

The overall patient, kidney and pancreas graft survival rates for patients receiving transplants in 2006 were 98 percent, 96 percent and 91 percent, respectively. Within the University Health Consortium, a group of 97 academic medical centers, Wake Forest Baptist’s program is in the top 10 in survival statistics.

When compared to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients national statistics, the Abdominal Organ Transplantation Program’s observed survival data have consistently surpassed expected survival outcomes.

The 138 transplants included 100 kidneys from deceased donors, 16 kidneys from living donors, 19 kidney-pancreas transplants and three pancreas transplants that followed kidney transplants.

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Contact: Jonnie Rohrer, jrohrer@wfubmc.edu, 336-716-6972; Karen Richardson or Shannon Koontz, 336-716-4587.

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