INNOVATION
INNOVATION
In recent years and as we look to the future , UAB Medicine ’ s Comprehensive Transplant Institute ( CTI ) is increasingly focused on improving access to organs . A few of these efforts are highlighted here :
NEW VCA PROGRAM INITIALLY WILL FOCUS ON UTERUS , PARATHYROID TRANSPLANTS The UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute recently launched a vascularized composite allotransplantation ( VCA ) program to improve the quality of life for patients with debilitating medical problems who have few other treatment options . The VCA program initially will focus on uterus and parathyroid transplants . It is led by recently recruited abdominal organ transplant surgeon and immunologist Paige Porrett , MD , PhD , associate professor of surgery in the UAB Division of Transplantation and Comprehensive Transplant Institute . Dr . Porrett started the nation ’ s third uterus transplant program at the University of Pennsylvania , along with colleagues from the Penn Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology .
UAB ’ s innovative uterus transplant effort is the first of its kind in the southeast and only the fourth in the United States . It is aimed at overcoming uterine factor infertility ( UFI ), a condition in which a woman cannot get pregnant because she was born without a uterus , had it surgically removed during a hysterectomy , or has a uterus that does not function properly . UFI may affect as many as 5 % of reproductive-aged women worldwide and previously was an irreversible form of female infertility . UAB ’ s program includes screening and embryo creation ahead of the transplant , followed by embryo transfer and Cesarean delivery post-transplant . The VCA program is working closely with the UAB Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology on this initiative . To learn more , please visit uabmedicine . org / uterustransplant .
HEPATITIS C-POSITIVE PROGRAM The CTI has expanded organ access for patients through our Hepatitis C-positive > Hep C-negative program , which allows us to safely transplant organs from infected donors then cure the hepatitis C in the recipient with antiviral therapy . The CTI developed relevant protocols for all solid organs , applying them first with our kidney / pancreas and liver programs . This initiative has allowed more organs to be transplanted and is reducing wait times .
MATCHING MORE KIDNEYS More than 92,000 people nationally await a kidney transplant , but only about 23,400 kidney transplants were performed in 2019 . This disparity continues to drive a major organ shortage . According to the United Network for Organ Sharing , about 1,350 people were awaiting a kidney transplant in Alabama as of August 2020 .
The CTI is addressing the kidney shortage in a number of ways . Our Incompatible Donor Program helps overcome the barriers of crossing blood or tissue groups through desensitization , a technique in which UAB Medicine is a national leader . And by working with a database of patients and living kidney donors , our Kidney Paired Donation Program helps locate compatible matches and maximizes the use of available organs .
LIVING DONOR NAVIGATOR PROGRAM Thanks in part to our innovative Living Donor Navigator Program , livingdonor kidneys account for more than 30 % of the kidney transplants performed at UAB , and that percentage is expected to continue growing . Launched in 2017 , the program helps those in need of a transplant overcome the challenges of identifying potential living donors .
The VCA program also will focus on parathyroid transplants for patients with refractory and severe hypoparathyroidism . However , it eventually could include multiple tissues such as skin , muscles , tendons , nerves , and even bones . The program has been spurred along by recent advances in clinical organ transplant immunosuppression and experimental VCA research .
Each patient is encouraged to choose a “ living-donor advocate ” to serve as his or her advocate and manage the search for a kidney donor . UAB Medicine employees are trained to serve as living-donor navigators , and they in turn train and assist these advocates . The navigators also help potential living donors through the evaluation process by answering
10 UAB CTI Report