Wake Forest Baptist Performs 3,000th Kidney Transplant

January 13, 2015

The Abdominal Organ Transplant Program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center performed its 3,000th kidney transplant on Jan. 5. The total includes more than 2,800 kidney and nearly 200 kidney-pancreas transplants.

“Reaching this milestone represents a major achievement,” said Robert J. Stratta, M.D., professor of surgery and director of the program. “This landmark would not have been attainable without support from a number of dedicated individuals as well as institutional vision and commitment dating back to 1970.”

Wake Forest Baptist’s transplant program is the largest kidney and pancreas transplant center in the state and one of the largest in the region. Wake Forest Baptist currently performs between 170 and 180 kidney and kidney-pancreas transplants each year and has been consistently ranked among the 30 most active kidney and pancreas transplant centers in the nation.

“Recent performance improvement initiatives have focused primarily on quality rather than quantity outcomes in order to enhance the patient experience,” Stratta said. “Something we are particularly proud of is that in the latter half of 2014, 80 consecutive kidney transplants were performed with 100 percent success.”

According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a national database, Wake Forest Baptist has lower than expected waiting times, normal patient and graft survival rates based on its case mix, higher rates of organ acceptance and imports, higher rates of transplantation (in nearly all age groups, but particularly in the elderly), greater utilization of expanded criteria donor kidneys and better waiting-list turnover improvement compared to other programs in the region. In addition, since 1999, Wake Forest Baptist has had more people living with functioning kidney transplants in North Carolina than any other transplant center.

Media Relations

Erin Harris: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587

Shannon Putnam: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587