Beaumont Hospital Reaches 100 Kidney Transplant Milestone

On Dec. 13, 2017, Kathryn Harvard, 60, of Ortonville, made Beaumont Hospital history after receiving the facility’s 100th kidney transplant on the year. Beaumont Health’s Multi-Organ Transplant team performed the surgery, marking 100 kidney transplants in a year, according to a release. Fewer than 25% of US kidney transplant programs do this many surgeries.

Dr. Dilip Samarapungavan, medical director of the Beaumont Multi-Organ Transplant Center, credits his team with maintaining a high level of safety while growing the program in part through a focus on live donation. “It is the combination of an innovative use of scarce donor organs, along with major efforts at finding the appropriate live donor so they might save a life, but also with donor safety a priority,” Samarapungavan said in a release. “We also have an incredible team that works relentlessly to ensure a successful outcome for every patient,” he added.

According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data, Beaumont patients have the shortest average wait time, getting their transplants in 2.9 years. Most patients in the region wait two years more on average, according to Beaumont. Since the starting the kidney transplant program in 1972, Beaumont Hospital has performed over 2,500 transplants.

Photo via Beaumont Hospital.