Watch CBS News

Beaumont Performs Its First Multi-Organ Transplant

A 49-year-old Southfield man was the first patient at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak to receive a kidney and liver through Beaumont's new multi-organ transplant program on April 19.

Under the leadership of Alan J. Koffron, M.D., director of multi-organ transplantation, Beaumont expanded its 39-year-old kidney transplant program to include liver transplants in August of 2010. Beaumont's transplant team includes three surgeons, two hepatologists, two transplant nephrologists, anesthesiologists, transplant nurses, pharmacists, a social worker, a patient financial advisor and administrative staff.

Dr. Koffron, who joined Beaumont three years ago from Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, is one of the world's leading innovators in laparoscopic and live-donor liver transplantation. He's the world's most experienced surgeon for minimally invasive live-donor liver retrievals and liver resections.

Beaumont offers deceased and live-donor kidney transplants. It currently offers deceased-donor liver transplants and autologous transplant surgeries for patients with liver cancer where the liver is removed, the tumor cut away and replaced. Beaumont plans to offer live-donor liver transplants in the future.

"We provide patients with an entire spectrum of personalized care, from medical treatment to organ replacement, from a team with an enormous amount of transplant experience," Koffron said. "When a patient is diagnosed with life-threatening liver or kidney disease, they want answers fast. Our specialists, with the help of a nurse navigator, coordinate their appointments and follows them through the entire transplant process, including post-transplant care."

Beaumont performed its first kidney transplant in 1972. The hospital received initial approval for a liver transplant program in October 2007 from the Michigan Department of Community Health's Certificate of Need Commission. The hospital recruited Dr. Koffron to head up multi-organ transplantation, who in turn recruited a transplant surgeon from Georgetown University Hospital (Vandad Raofi, M.D.) and two liver specialists from the University of Alabama (Mohamad Al Sibae, M.D.) and the University of Arkansas (Wael Refai, M.D.) to get the Beaumont program underway.

Beaumont's Surgery department offers the latest technology and minimally invasive surgical techniques provided by highly trained physicians, anesthesiologists, nurses and technicians. In 2010, 50 transplants were performed at Beaumont, Royal Oak, including 48 kidney and two liver procedures.

Beaumont Hospital's kidney transplant program was recently recognized for outstanding post-transplant survival rates by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The bronze medal was based on one-year post-transplant survival rates, donor transplant rates and waitlist mortality rates for 2009.
 
More at www.beaumonthospitals.com.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.