Albany Medical Center has the highest
three-year kidney transplant graft survival
rate in the United States, according to
data released by the Scientific Registry of
Transplant Recipients (SRTR), a national
database of transplant statistics.
The announcement was made at a joint
press conference with the Center for Donation
and Transplant to highlight the need
for individuals to become organ and tissue
donors in advance of Donate Life Month,
which began April 1.
Dr. David Conti professor of surgery and
director of the section of transplantation
at Albany Medical Center, credited Albany
Med’s multidisciplinary approach to care
for the successful outcomes.
“Transplant patients often require multiple
specialists to address any number of chronic diseases that may have led to their
organ failure, and to keep their new kidney
healthy,” Conti said. “Caring for these patients
before, during, and following a transplant
requires teamwork and expertise at
the very highest levels, and we are grateful
to our colleagues here at the Medical Center
for working so hard to maintain ease in the
coordination of care.”
“While we are proud of our results, we are
most grateful that we are able to provide our
patients with better health and an enhanced
quality of life,” he said.
The most recently released statistics
reviewed kidney transplant outcomes from
January 2009 through June 2011 of all 254
kidney transplant programs in the United
States. Based on 117 kidney transplants
performed at Albany Med, 97.4 percent of those kidneys transplanted were still
functioning after three years, significantly
higher than the expected national survival
rate of 86.7 percent. Additionally, Albany
Med’s hazard ratio for graft loss was 0.29,
the lowest value of any transplant program
in the United States.
Conti also acknowledged that the success
of his program could not be possible without
those who donate. “Each transplant we
perform is the result of some individual’s
selfless gift — whether in death or in life —
and for that, we are most grateful,” he said.
Mike Thibault, executive director of the
Center for Donation and Transplant, commended
Albany Med’s kidney transplant
program for its work and stressed the need
for more people to consider donation.
“The Center for Donation and Transplant
sincerely commends the success of Albany
Medical Center’s kidney transplant program
and the many lives saved as a result of the
hard work and dedication of Dr. Conti and
his team” Thibault said. “The shortage of
organ donors in the U.S., and especially in
New York state, is a public health crisis.
Every 15 hours a New Yorker is lost because
a life-saving organ is not available. The
Center for Donation and Transplant encourages
all New Yorkers to get the facts about
organ donation and give the gift of life by
signing up to be a donor on the New York
state Donate Life Registry.”
More than 123,000 people in the United
States are awaiting an organ for transplant.
For every 150 people added to the list each
day, 19 people die waiting for organs, according
to the Center for Donation and
Transplant.
The SRTR, founded in 1987, supports
ongoing evaluation of the scientific and
clinical status of solid organ transplantation,
including kidney, heart, liver, lung,
intestine, and pancreas. Data in the registry
are collected by the Organ Procurement
and Transplantation Network (OPTN) from
hospitals and organ procurement organizations
across the country.