|
SUMMER 2006
Letter from the Chair
Nancy Ascher, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery, discusses the progress in organ and cellular transplantation at UCSF.
Transplant Options for Type 1 Diabetes
Insulin dependent (type I) diabetes often leads to complications in patients whose blood sugar levels can't be controlled adequately. UCSF performs two procedures — solid organ pancreas transplants and pancreatic islet transplants — to provide selected patients with a healthy supply of insulin-producing beta cells.
Transplant Patient Profiles
Two transplant patients — Tara Rojas, an administrator with the UCSF Beta Cell Transplant Program, and Ivan Barriga, an East Bay mortgage consultant — tell their stories.
Kidney Transplants
UCSF’s largest transplant service is its kidney program. More kidney transplants have been performed at UCSF than any other institution in the world — about 7,500 since the program began in 1964. UCSF is a leader in living donor kidney transplants, which now represent 50 percent of donor organs in the program.
Heart and Lung Transplants
UCSF’s Heart Transplant Program has seen rapid growth in the past three years. The program is unusual in that about 20 percent of its patients receive a kidney transplant along with their new heart. UCSF also performs about 35 lung transplants each year, making it one of busiest lung transplant programs in California.
Liver Transplants
The UCSF Liver Transplant Service is noted for excellent success rates for both cadaveric and living-donor transplants. Since 1988, UCSF surgeons have performed 1,830 liver transplants.
Bowel Transplants
Children and adults with intestinal failure often develop life-threatening complications from administration of total parenteral nutrition (TPN). As a treatment of last resort, the UCSF Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplantation Program offers small bowel transplants to carefully selected patients who can no longer tolerate TPN.
Transplant Research
UCSF is engaged in transplant research on a number of fronts. In this newsletter, we highlight transplantation
in HIV-positive patients and improving tolerance to transplanted tissues.
Awards and Appointments
Read about the awards and appointments our physicians have received.
Donors
The Department of Surgery appreciates the generous individuals who support the Transplant Service.
Referral Liaison Service
The Referral Liaison Service provides assistance to referring physicians, medical groups and health plans. For help or information about programs and services at UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Children's Hospital, please call the Referral Liaison Service or visit the www.ucsfhealth.org/healthprofessionals.
Click here to subscribe to this newsletter.
To contact UCSF Medical Center, visit www.ucsfhealth.org/contact.
|
