The Abdominal Organ Transplant Program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center performed 161 procedures in fiscal year 2018, marking the 12th consecutive year in which more than 150 patients have received kidney and pancreas transplants at the center.
This level of activity places Wake Forest Baptist as the largest kidney and pancreas transplant center in North Carolina; one of the largest in the United Network for Organ Sharing region that includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky; and one of the 35 most active in the United States.
During the period July 2017 to June 2018, Wake Forest Baptist specialists performed 149 kidney transplants (33 with living donors), 10 kidney-pancreas transplants, one pancreas transplant and one heart-kidney transplant, with an overall patient survival rate of 98.1 percent.
A total of 3,367 kidney transplants and 257 pancreas transplants have been performed at Wake Forest Baptist in the program’s 48-year history. Of these 3,624 procedures, 2,367 have been performed in the past 14 years, an average of 169 per year.
“We have been able to maintain our high volumes and excellent outcomes despite having to deal with more complex and older donor and recipient populations,” said Robert J. Stratta, M.D., professor of surgical sciences and Jesse H. Meredith, M.D., Chair in Transplant Surgery at Wake Forest Baptist. “Transplantation is the ultimate team effort, and these results could not have been achieved without the contributions of the program’s dedicated staff members as well as institutional vision and commitment.”
Media Relations
Joe McCloskey: jmcclosk@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1273
Eryn Johnson: eryjohns@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-8228