{"id":46904,"date":"2000-03-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2000-03-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2000\/03\/08\/gives-hope-to-patients-waiting-for-a-liver-transplant\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:55:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:55:52","slug":"gives-hope-to-patients-waiting-for-a-liver-transplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2000\/03\/08\/gives-hope-to-patients-waiting-for-a-liver-transplant\/","title":{"rendered":"Gives Hope to Patients Waiting for a Liver Transplant"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/FONT><\/U><\/I><\/p>\n


UNMC Surgeons Perform First Adult Living-Related Liver<\/p>\n

Transplant in Nebraska<\/FONT><\/B><\/p>\n

University of Nebraska Medical Center surgeons recently performed the<\/p>\n

first adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant in Nebraska. The procedure<\/p>\n

is a potentially a life-saving alternative to patients on the national<\/p>\n

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) liver transplant waiting list.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 28, Tim Seitz, a 33-year-old Westminster, Colo., man donated<\/p>\n

a portion of his liver to his mother, Kathleen Seitz of Phillips, Neb.<\/p>\n

The surgery was done in Nebraska Health Systems University Hospital, located<\/p>\n

on the UNMC campus in Omaha.<\/p>\n

Normally, patients with liver disease wait months to years for a cadaveric<\/p>\n

liver to become available. If an organ does not become available in time,<\/p>\n

the patient will die from progressive liver failure. In 1998, the number<\/p>\n

of deaths in potential recipients on the liver transplant waiting list<\/p>\n

in the United States reached an all time high of 1,319 an increase of nearly<\/p>\n

20 percent over the previous year.<\/p>\n

With a living donor, surgeons can choose the time of transplantation<\/p>\n

so that the recipient is in optimal condition, said UNMC Transplant Surgeon<\/p>\n

Debra Sudan, M.D.<\/p>\n

Its amazing, Kathleen Seitz said. I gave him life, and now he has<\/p>\n

given it back to me.<\/p>\n

Kathleen had been on the waiting list since April 1999 as a status 2B,<\/p>\n

which is the highest category of those not in critical condition. Kathleen<\/p>\n

has primary biliary cirrhosis, a liver disorder that results in damage<\/p>\n

to the liver and the bile ducts. Its cause is unknown.<\/p>\n

Last year I was getting sicker and more tired and wondered how sick<\/p>\n

I would get before I got the transplant, she said.<\/p>\n


Her children told her about the possibility of a living donor. They<\/p>\n

believed it was the right thing to do and approached UNMC physicians.<\/p>\n

Physicians found that two of Kathleen and Tony Seitz four sons and<\/p>\n

one of Kathleens sisters had matching blood types, which made them possible<\/p>\n

donor candidates. Dr. Sudan determined that Tim was the best candidate<\/p>\n

based on the size of his liver. She said the surgery was important for<\/p>\n

many reasons.<\/p>\n

Kathleens liver disease had advanced rapidly over the three to six<\/p>\n

months prior to her transplant and she was expected to have an additional<\/p>\n

waiting time of nine to 18 months, Dr. Sudan said. By performing a living<\/p>\n

donor transplant Kathleen was spared from waiting for a cadaveric liver<\/p>\n

and the inevitable further decline in her health during those months or<\/p>\n

years while she waited.<\/p>\n

About 200 to 300 living related liver transplant procedures have been<\/p>\n

performed in adult recipients worldwide, she said. In the United States,<\/p>\n

surgeons began trying the procedure about two years ago. Since the early<\/p>\n

1990s about 3,000 transplants have been done worldwide where an adult<\/p>\n

shares their liver with a child.<\/p>\n

Many of the transplants have been done in Asia where culturally, and<\/p>\n

in some cases legally, cadaveric organ transplantation was not an option.<\/p>\n

Due to the availability of cadaveric liver transplantation, only about<\/p>\n

70 living-donor operations on pediatric recipients have been performed<\/p>\n

each year since UNOS began collecting data in 1990. UNMC surgeons have<\/p>\n

performed approximately 45 of these procedures.<\/p>\n

During the procedure, surgeons divided the right side of Tims liver<\/p>\n

from the left while blood was flowing through both segments. Once the tissue<\/p>\n

was divided, the vessels were clamped and the right side was removed and<\/p>\n

placed on ice.<\/p>\n

This is a large operation being performed on a person who does not<\/p>\n

personally benefit in terms of his own health status, Dr. Sudan said.<\/p>\n

That makes it a large burden for surgeons who must choose donors who have<\/p>\n

a low risk of complications from the operation.<\/p>\n

For Kathleen, the surgery lasted about six hours. Her liver was removed<\/p>\n

completely, and Tims liver was put in place.<\/p>\n

Were very thankful to Dr. Sudan and the team. After being with the<\/p>\n

team, they inspired a lot of confidence in us. These people are some of<\/p>\n

the best in the nation, said Tim, a lawyer from the Denver area who specializes<\/p>\n

in international tax, merges and acquisitions. He and his wife, Jodi, have<\/p>\n

four children. Tim is the oldest of Kathleens eight children, four sons<\/p>\n

and four daughters.<\/p>\n

The liver is an organ that regenerates itself and it grows back rapidly.<\/p>\n

In a short period of time, anywhere from seven days to six weeks, the donor<\/p>\n

and recipient livers will increase to approximately the full normal size<\/p>\n

of the whole liver prior to surgery, Dr. Sudan said.<\/p>\n

For the recipient the risks are not very different than transplantation<\/p>\n

with a whole cadaveric liver, Dr. Sudan said. The availability of living<\/p>\n

donors can increase the number of recipients who are able to be transplanted.<\/p>\n

Hopefully we can offer it to other families, especially those whove waited<\/p>\n

a long time on the list.<\/p>\n

The introduction of living donor liver transplantation for adult recipients<\/p>\n

is expected to have an even greater impact on liver transplantation than<\/p>\n

in children. Children only make up five to 10 percent of the patients waiting<\/p>\n

for transplant and more than 13,000 of the 14,722 individuals currently<\/p>\n

on the waiting list are adults. The current number of recipients on the<\/p>\n

waiting list is more than three times the total number of liver transplants<\/p>\n

done in the United States last year.<\/p>\n

UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.<\/p>\n

Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,<\/p>\n

UNMC has established itself as one of the countrys leading centers for<\/p>\n

cancer research and treatment, solid organ transplantation and arthritis.<\/p>\n

During the past year, nearly $31 million in research grants and contracts<\/p>\n

were awarded to UNMC scientists, and UNMCs funding from the National Institutes<\/p>\n

of Health increased by 28 percent, going from $16.2 million to $20.7 million.<\/p>\n

UNMCs educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals<\/p>\n

practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.<\/p>\n


 <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNMC Surgeons Perform First Adult Living-Related Liver Transplant in Nebraska University of Nebraska Medical Center surgeons recently performed the first adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant in Nebraska. The procedure is a potentially a life-saving alternative to patients on the national United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) liver transplant waiting list. On Feb. 28, Tim Seitz, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nGives Hope to Patients Waiting for a Liver Transplant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UNMC Surgeons Perform First Adult Living-Related Liver Transplant in Nebraska University of Nebraska Medical Center 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