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TO HEALTH, MEDICAL, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Northwestern Medicine Celebrates 50 Years Performing Life-saving Organ
Transplants
CHICAGO, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This April,
Northwestern Medicine@ will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its
organ transplant program during National Donate Life Month. The
program, which began with a kidney transplant on Feb. 18, 1964 at
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, is the longest continual provider of
organ transplantation in Chicago.
"It is an honor to be able to celebrate five decades of successful
transplants, not only because the of thousands of patients we have
been able to help over the years, but also because of the number of
innovations we continue to help pioneer," said Michael Abecassis, MD,
chief of the division of organ transplantation at Northwestern
Memorial and founding director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center
at the Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
In the last five decades, Northwestern Medicine surgeons have been
leaders in transplant innovation, performing a number of
groundbreaking procedures in Illinois, including the state's first
successful pancreas transplant in 1970, pancreas islet cell transplant
in1996 and laparoscopic (minimally invasive) donation surgery in 1997.
Northwestern Medicine' surgeons also performed the world's second
pediatric dual kidney transplant in 1964.
Northwestern Medicine may also lay claim to one of the most successful
kidney transplants in the world. In 1970, Mary Matson, a local
business owner in Galesburg, Illinois, received a kidney transplant
from a deceased donor. Most deceased donor kidney transplants need to
be replaced after 10 to 15 years before a recipient's immune system
eventually rejects the organ as a foreign body. Remarkably, Matson
still has the same kidney she received nearly 44 years ago.
"I was so ecstatic when I was told I was going to get a kidney," said
Matson, who was 31 at the time of her transplant. "Before my
transplant I didn't have a lot of stamina, I wasn't able to even take
a short walk. My life before and after I got my new kidney was like
night and day. I was able to manage and grow my own business, travel
and live a very productive life."
When organ transplantation first started in the 1950's, there were no
medications that could help prevent rejection so operations were only
done for patients who had an identical twin who could donate. The
compatibility problem has since been greatly reduced with advances in
anti-rejection medications that help control the immune system and
prevent it from attacking the transplanted organ. However these
medications are not perfect and can have many side effects for
patients, including an increased risk for illnesses due to infection.
"For a long time the Holy Grail of transplantation has been to figure
out how to create real immune tolerance for transplanted organs in
patients without medication," said Abecassis, who led the team that
performed the first liver transplant at Northwestern Memorial in
August, 1993. "For the first time, through two clinical trials that
are only available here at Northwestern, we have begun to make this a
reality using cellular therapies."
One of those clinical trials, lead by Joseph Leventhal, MD, PhD,
director of kidney and pancreas transplantation, uses specially
engineered stem cells from kidney donors that allow an organ
recipient's immune system to recognize a new kidney as its own. There
are currently 19 participants in the clinical trial, 18 of whom have
reached this goal. So far 12 of those 18 have been able to reduce
their anti-rejection medication or stop taking it completely. This is
the first clinical trial that has been successful in achieving immune
tolerance for transplanted organs in patients without medication.
"With the recent breakthroughs we have achieved, we have set new goals
for the future. In 10 to 15 years we want to be providing organ
transplants that no longer require recipients to take life-long
regimens of anti-rejection medications, and we are also currently
researching methods of growing organs in the lab that would allow
patients to receive transplant organs that were made using their own
cells," added Abecassis.
This research is being undertaken at a critical time. The waiting list
of patients who need an organ transplant has grown to nearly 125,000
since it began 30 years ago, and that number continues to increase
while the availability of organs has remained flat.
On April 6, Northwestern will host an event to celebrate its 50th
transplant anniversary at the Westin O'Hare hotel in Rosemont,
Illinois at 11:00 a.m. The celebration will include an opportunity for
patients to interact with one another and reunite with caregivers.
There will also be information about Northwestern Medicine's
transplant research and speakers including transplant recipients,
living donors and transplant surgeons. For more information and to buy
tickets, visit the event's webpage.
Those who would like to support the Northwestern Comprehensive
Transplant Center and help it continue its innovative research may
make a gift online. Organ recipients and family members of organ
recipients may also join Transplant Village, an independent non-profit
organization formed by Northwestern transplant patients to help
support the Comprehensive Transplant Center.
Northwestern Medicine's Comprehensive Transplant Center is one of the
largest and most successful organ transplant centers in the America,
and is a leader in both living liver and kidney transplantation. Since
its first transplant in 1964, Northwestern Medicine has provided new
organs for more than 6,000 people and has become a pioneer in
transplantation research. In order to make these critical services
available to as many people as possible, Northwestern Medicine has
opened satellite clinics in locations that include Peoria, Moline,
Glenview and Joliet in Illinois, and Portage, Indiana. In 2006, it
also created its own Hispanic Transplant Program to better address the
needs of the large Hispanic patient population who call the Chicago
area home.
To learn more about transplantation services and research at
Northwestern Medicine, please visit the center's website or call
312-695-8900.
About Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Northwestern Memorial
HealthCare is the parent corporation of Chicago's Northwestern
Memorial Hospital, an 894-bed academic medical center hospital and
Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, a 201-bed community hospital
located in Lake Forest, Illinois.
About Northwestern Memorial Hospital Northwestern Memorial is one of
the country's premier academic medical center hospitals and is the
primary teaching hospital of the Northwestern University Feinberg
School of Medicine. Along with its Prentice Women's Hospital and Stone
Institute of Psychiatry, the hospital has 1,705 affiliated physicians
and 6,769 employees. Northwestern Memorial is recognized for
providing exemplary patient care and state-of-the art advancements in
the areas of cardiovascular care; women's health; oncology; neurology
and neurosurgery; solid organ and soft tissue transplants and
orthopaedics.
Northwestern Memorial has nursing Magnet Status, the nation's highest
recognition for patient care and nursing excellence. Northwestern
Memorial ranks 6th in the nation in the U.S. News & World Report
2013-14 Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. The hospital is
recognized in 14 of 16 clinical specialties rated by U.S. News and is
No. 1 in Illinois and Chicago in U.S. News' 2013-14 state and metro
rankings, respectively. For 14 years running, Northwestern Memorial
has been rated among the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers"
guide by Working Mother magazine. The hospital is a recipient of the
prestigious National Quality Health Care Award and has been chosen by
Chicagoans as the Consumer Choice according to the National Research
Corporation's annual survey for 15 consecutive years.
SOURCE Northwestern Memorial Hospital
-0- 04/01/2014
/CONTACT: Bret Coons, 312-926-2955, bcoons@nmh.org
/Web Site: http://www.nmh.org
CO: Northwestern Memorial Hospital
ST: Illinois
IN: HEA MTC
SU: TRI SVY
PRN
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