Members of Two Families Share Kidneys
Posted on: Thursday, 9 June 2005, 09:00 CDT
CLEVELAND -- Two families, once strangers 400 miles apart, are now forever bonded by blood, tissue and four surgeons' knives. In transplants involving four people, an Ohio man suffering from diabetes-related organ failure received a kidney from a healthy Wisconsin woman whose sick sister, in turn, received a kidney from the Ohio man's healthy wife.
It was the fourth pair of transplants in the nation's first state-sponsored program that arranges kidney swaps for patient-donor pairs who don't match each other but fit with another pair.
A team of surgeons led by Dr. Mark Aeder performed the operations Tuesday at University Hospitals of Cleveland, one of nine hospitals that are part of the program many organ donation advocates say should be expanded nationwide.
"The need for organs clearly is outpacing the availability, so for people who have a willing donor this is a way to get them off dialysis, get them transplanted and improve the quality of their lives," said Audrey Bohnengel, executive director of the Ohio Solid Organ Transplant Consortium that helps oversee the program.
Doug Lillibridge, 33, of Twinsburg, about 25 miles southeast of Cleveland, has suffered from diabetes since he was 10 years old. Before the transplant, he underwent dialysis three times a week for the past several years.
He received a kidney from Celia Lipinski, 46, of Racine, Wis.
Lillibridge's wife, 36-year-old Claudia, donated a kidney to Lipinski's sister, Paula Lipinski, who has acute kidney failure and had been on dialysis for nearly two years.
Less than 24 hours after the operations, all four patients were in good condition and "doing wonderfully," said Alison Bibb, a University Hospitals spokeswoman.
In a statement released by the hospital, Claudia Lillibridge said the families were relieved that the paired donor program helped them.
"We are paired up with people in the same dire situation," she said. "What a life-saving gift exchange this is! My husband will be feeling better and off dialysis and so will Paula, his donor's sister."
Aeder was joined in the operation rooms by Drs. James Schulak, Christopher Siegel and Juan Sanabria, all faculty members at Case Western Reserve University's medical school.
The Ohio Health Department announced the Paired Donation Kidney Consortium in 2003. Participating hospitals use a computer program that assigns points for blood and tissue type; patient size, age and health; and other factors that go into a match. The operations are done simultaneously so the kidneys spend less time outside of a body.
Michigan and Indiana will join the Ohio consortium later this month.
Similar registries operate in metropolitan Washington, D.C., and among six New England states.
---
On the Net:
Ohio Consortium: http://www.osotc.org/
University Hospitals: http://www.uhhs.com/
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
Related Articles
- Ohio's Children's Hospitals Release New Results of Collaboration Aimed at Saving Children's Lives
- Terumo Heart, Inc. Reports Clinical Progress in the DuraHeart(TM) U.S. Pivotal Trial as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center Implants First Patient
- Ohio Children's Hospital Association Announces Results of First-of-Its-Kind Quality Collaboration Aimed at Saving Children's Lives
- HMO Fined Over Kidney Transplant Program
- Executive Education Program at Boston University School of Management Ranked 27th Internationally By The Financial Times
- Kaiser Suspends Kidney Transplant Program
- Feds Probe Kidney Transplant Program
- Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center Selects ProVation(R) MD Software for Gastroenterology Procedure Documentation and Coding Compliance
- Researchers Praise Kidney-Swap Program
- Venetec Announces Agreement With South Africa Hospital Consortium
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds