Bruno Gridelli, MD, ISMETT director (pictured), presented at the celebration of the Istituto Mediterraneo per i Trapianti e Terapie ad Alta Specializzazione’s (ISMETT’s) 1000th transplant which took place in late 2010 at the Botanic Garden in Palermo, Italy.
“After 10 years of experimentation, we can say that the transfer of clinical, organizational, and management know-how has proven to be successful,” said Italian Minister of Health Ferruccio Fazio. “This has resulted not only in clinical excellence, but has also had an impact on the growth of research in Sicily. In addition, patients no longer have to travel to foreign countries, or even to other Italian regions, for transplants or other advanced therapies. It has also led to the construction of one of the best cell production facilities in Europe, which will be further consolidated and developed by the Ri.MED Foundation through collaborative projects with other important facilities.”
ISMETT now has performed 1017 transplants. Its first transplant was done in July of 1999, the first-ever liver transplant in southern Italy. ISMETT now has transplant programs for all solid organs: liver, kidney, heart, lung, and pancreas. According to statistics from the National Transplant Center, ISMETT is among the top transplant centers in Europe for patient survival, and among the top centers for the number of procedures performed.
ISMETT’s 1000th transplant was performed on a 40-year-old patient affected with cystic fibrosis, a genetic metabolic disease that destroys the internal organs, particularly the lungs and the liver. In this case, the patient underwent a lung transplant to replace his lungs, which were irremediably damaged by the disease. The surgery lasted 12 hours and the patient, a Bologna native, fully recovered and was able to attend the celebration.
Illustration: ISMETT UPMC.
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UPMC International Extra (11/2010)