the torch Winter 2015, Issue 4 | Page 14

Baylor Dallas performs record number of organ transplants In September, surgical teams took part in a record-setting day of organ transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Surgeons on the medical staff performed nine organ transplants on seven patients in one calendar day. The nine organ transplants took place at on Sept. 1. Three additional organs were transplanted in the early morning hours of Sept. 2, bringing the total to 12 organs transplanted in 25 hours. “I am very proud of this milestone,” said Göran Klintmalm, M.D., Ph.D., chief and chairman of Baylor Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute. “This is a collaboration of more than 150 people coming together in a short amount of time to change the lives of these patients,” Dr. Klintmalm added. The surgeries performed during the record-breaking 24 hours included: n One heart transplant n Two lung transplants (one double lung, one single lung) n Three kidney transplants n Three liver/kidney transplants (multi-organ transplants) The organs helped save the lives of nine patients, including a grandfather from Louisiana, a Texas state trooper, a North Texas veterinarian and a young Atlanta resident living with kidney disease. All traveled to the Dallas hospital for their much-anticipated surgeries. Two of the transplants were from living kidney donors, in both cases a wife giving the gift of life to her husband. “There are only a handful of centers that have the Baylor Dallas transplant milestones This record day of organ transplantation is the latest achievement for the program, which is credited with a number of milestones, including: n n n n n n First and only adult living liver donor program in North Texas n First islet cell transplant in North Texas First certified ventricular assist device (VAD) program in the U.S. First matched, unrelated donor bone marrow transplant in Texas First adult liver transplant in the Southwest First