MUSC kidney transplant program 17th highest volume in nation
July 12, 2016
CHARLESTON, SC – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) was recently named for performing the 17th highest number of kidney transplants in the country, as confirmed by data released by the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN). The data includes kidney and kidney/pancreas transplants. For more information, visit www.unos.org.
The MUSC Health transplant program had been previously recognized as part of U.S. News & World Report rankings and as a University Health Consortium benchmark program.
“We are a nationally-recognized team with some of the best physicians, surgeons, nurses, and coordinators, that is supported by the latest innovations in our area, some of which are being pioneered here,” said Prabhakar Baliga, M.D., MUSC Department of Surgery chairman and transplant surgeon.
MUSC has one of the shortest wait times in the country, greatly improving the odds patients and their families face, and is consistently recognized for having very high survival rates, despite treating twice the number of high-risk patients when compared to other top programs.
MUSC is the only transplant center in South Carolina, but that’s not necessarily the reason for the high volume of transplants. Citizens of the Palmetto State suffer a higher rate of end stage renal disease, and those rates disproportionately affect the African-American population. According to Baliga, approximately 65 percent of kidney or kidney/pancreas transplant patients at MUSC are African-American. To help better serve these patients and others, MUSC has an active and growing living donation program for kidney transplant patients. By specializing in living donor transplants, the availability of healthy kidneys for those who need them most continues to improve. One such program involves a donor chain and is having a direct impact on numerous patients in much less time. For more information on this program, visit: http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/catalyst/archives/2013/9-20transplant.htm
About MUSC Health
MUSC Health is the clinical enterprise of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) comprised of a 700-bed Medical Center, the MUSC College of Medicine and the physician’s practice plan. It serves patients across South Carolina and beyond through four hospital facilities in Charleston and more than 100 outreach sites. Among these are the Hollings Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated center, and a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital. The Medical University was founded in 1824 and has risen to become a premiere academic health sciences center at the forefront of the latest advances in medicine, with world-class physicians and scientists providing groundbreaking research and technology that is often the first of its kind in the world.
