02 LEADING MEDICINE: ADVANCED ORGAN FAILURE MANAGEMENT AND TRANSPLANT
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center’s team of physicians, surgeons, scientists, nurses and other health care professionals are relentless in our pursuit of the very best therapies for patients facing end-stage organ failure. Our program continues to grow exponentially year over year, we push the envelope every day for patients with no other options, and we continue to directly translate our research into care at the bedside. Last year, we participated in the world’s first multiple transplant of skull, scalp and solid organs — an historic transplant event. Surgical teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center came together to perform the scalp and skull transplant during the simultaneous transplant of a kidney and pancreas. The successful surgery ultimately required the skills of more than 50 health care professionals in an operation that lasted more than 15 hours. Through our partnership with Houston Methodist Research Institute, as well as individual donors and foundations, we have advanced our areas of heart, kidney and lung transplant, device therapy and liver care. Our left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program is one of the largest in the country. In what has proven to be an excellent collaboration, physicians and surgeons from both the transplant center and Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center work together to pursue the most advanced clinical trials in LVAD therapies. Our systematic approach to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has provided increased benefit for respiratory patients who are awaiting transplant or who are in dire need of respiratory support. Proficiency in liver transplants for even the sickest of patients has resulted in us maintaining the largest liver transplant waiting list of any facility in Texas. Additionally, in collaboration with MD Anderson, we are successfully treating previously inoperable patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and other liver cancers. Moreover, we continue to be a national leader in clinical trials for the management of advanced organ failure and transplant. We are looking at the role of stem cells in immunosuppression, the roles of T and B cells, and a potentially landmark pharmacology trial that may provide agents to successfully treat hepatitis patients with chronic kidney disease. We are making strides in bringing our innovations and newly made discoveries to others through publications, training and education. We offer informative conferences on advances in transplant and fellowships for transplant physicians in training. We are excited to now offer certified pancreas transplant training, providing physicians with a comprehensive fellowship in abdominal transplant — one of the few in the nation. We invite you to browse through these pages and learn of our accomplishments and discoveries the last two years, all in the spirit of healing those with organ failure and growing the pool of viable organs that can save the lives of patients in need.
A. Osama Gaber, MD, FACS Director, Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center