Mayo Clinic Transplant Center Highlight Series Part 2: Mayo Clinic Minnesota

Dec 1, 2020 | Kristin Eggebraaten | @keggebraaten

With three locations across the United States, Mayo Clinic’s transplant center is the largest integrated transplant program in the nation. Each location has its own uniqueness of services provided and expertise. We are embarking on a three part series of highlighting each of our campuses. Today’s post part two highlighting Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. 2020-12-1 Mayo Clinic MN Updates Blog

Mayo Clinic’s transplant center in Rochester performed more than 900 transplants in 2019. Here are a few of the unique offerings from our transplant center in the Midwest.

Liver Transplant Program – Gastric Sleeve and Liver Transplant Combination Surgery

Individuals who need a liver transplant sometimes struggle with obesity, often making them ineligible for a liver transplant. Obesity may actually cause liver failure in a disease called NASH or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Mayo Clinic’s collaborative approach to care made possible a pioneering combination surgery of a gastric sleeve and liver transplant. Patients who have developed liver failure due to obesity now may have this as a treatment option. To date Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has performed more than 40 of these surgeries to help patients who may not have qualified for a traditional liver transplant surgery. Learn more.

Liver Transplant Program – Liver Nondirected Donation and Liver Paired Donation

Beginning in mid-2020, our liver program in Minnesota began two new living donor liver transplant programs, aimed at increasing the opportunity for patients to receive a liver transplant. The Living Liver Nondirect Program is similar to our Nondirect Kidney Donor Program. Anyone between the ages of 25 and 59 who wishes to donate a liver but doesn’t have an intended recipient in mind, could enter this program and potentially be matched to someone waiting for a liver transplant.

Our Liver Paired Donation Program is also similar to our Kidney Paired Donation Program. In this program, anyone between the ages of 25 and 60 years old who has been approved to be a living donor but is not a match to their recipient could be entered into the paired exchange system. In this system, recipients are matched with the best possible donors and everyone gets the best organ possible for their transplant. Learn more about these new processes.

Kidney Transplant Program – Polycystic Kidney Disease Dual Surgery

Our kidney transplant patients with large polycystic kidneys in need of a kidney transplant can have their diseased kidneys safely removed laparoscopically at the same time as their transplant surgery. Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has been doing this surgery for several years, but recently the American Journal of Transplantation published the results of a study with Dr. Mikel Prieto as the study’s senior author. Researchers found that patients who had this dual surgery had the same kidney function and the same risk of complications as patients who had only a transplant and had their diseased kidneys removed later. To date, the Transplant Center in Minnesota has performed this dual surgery more than 60 times with excellent outcomes. Learn more.

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