A 17-month-old Baltimore boy is only the second patient at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh to undergo a live donor liver-kidney transplant. The organs were donated by the child’s father and maternal grandmother. The child’s surgeon, Dr. George V. Mazariegos, director of pediatric transplantation at Children’s Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation, and McGowan Institute faculty member, reported all 3 patients were recovering well. The transplant cures Andrew of the disease he was born with, Dr. Mazariegos said.
Andrew, born March 27, 2006, suffered from a congenital kidney and liver disorder known as autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD). ARPKD is rare and is often lethal. It is estimated to occur in 1 and 20,000 births. The signs and symptoms of the condition are usually apparent at birth or in early infancy. By the time Andrew was 1 month old, he had had both kidneys removed and placed on dialysis.
Living donors -- almost always family members -- give the patient the advantage of avoiding a long waiting list for deceased-donor organs and receiving organs that more closely match their own. Dr. Mazariegos said that he and the team—Drs. Rakesh Sindhi, Amadeo Marcos, and Kyle Soltys--have worked with 10 live donors this year, about one-third of its total transplant cases.
"The results of adult-to-children [transplant] have been exceptional," Dr. Mazariegos said.
Illustration: Gross pathology of polycystic kidneys. Ureters are visible. –Wikipedia.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (09/21/07)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (09/21/07) (video)
WUSA9 (09/21/07)
Hometown Annapolis (09/23/07)