Hackensack University Medical Center Transplantation Team
Newswise — We all know February 14 to be Valentine's Day but did you know it is also a day to raise awareness and education about organ, eye and tissue donation through National Donor Day.
Currently, there are more than 106,000 people on the national organ transplant waiting list - with 92,000 (87%) waiting for a kidney.
Transplant experts at Hackensack University Medical Center were the first in the country to use new kidney preservation technology that can expand the window of time in which a kidney is viable - reducing the time it takes to receive a kidney transplant.
Now the team is evaluating this innovative approach to see if it extends the lives of donated organs and dramatically expands the number of donor kidneys that are viable for transplantation, helping to address the organ shortage in the United States. The technology, known as Kidney Assist device, made by XVIVO, works by keeping a donated kidney warm, functioning, and supplied with nutrients outside of the body prior to transplant. Doctors use the experimental device to supply blood and oxygen to a human kidney at normal body temperature.
For decades, kidneys donated for transplantation by a deceased donor have been transported on ice in coolers until they reach the transplant recipient. While this puts the kidney into a "hibernation" mode, suspending its ability to function, it does not supply the oxygen and nutrients the organ needs and can result in organ damage — limiting the lifespan of the kidney outside the body. "Organs want to be treated the way our bodies treat them — warm and protected, with blood and oxygen," explained Michael Goldstein, MD, director of the Division of Organ Transplantation at Hackensack University Medical Center, who performed the Kidney Assist study.
The hospital is the only one in New Jersey to routinely perform kidney transplants with machine.
perfusion technology. Since 2020, doctors have used an ex vivo machine preservation technology that increases a kidney's lifespan under hypothermic (cold) conditions, improving patient outcomes. The new Kidney Assist technology is a step up from that approach, perfusing the donor kidney with blood and oxygen under normal body temperature (warm) conditions. The kidney that Dr. Goldstein and his team connected to Kidney Assist produced 200 ml of urine, indicating that it was functional and healthy and supporting its potential use for transplantation. Kidney Assist may convert organs that may have previously been rejected into usable kidneys for transplantation.
Dr. Goldstein and his colleagues will continue to assess the normothermic technology to see if it improves kidney parameters. They also plan to draft guidelines detailing how to interpret the data to determine if a kidney is viable for transplantation. "Kidney Assist may enable us to salvage more organs, keep them out of the body longer, deliver them more safely to the people who need them, and increase the number of organs available for transplantation," he concluded. "Our goal is to get this technology approved for use in the United States so we can save more organs and save more lives."
"This study demonstrates the leadership of Hackensack University Medical Center as a premier center for changing the state of the art of kidney transplantation," added Howard M. Ross, MD, chair of Surgery/surgeon-in-chief of Hackensack University Medical Center. "This exciting technology may save thousands of kidneys, improve patient outcomes, and greatly enhance our ability to save more lives in the United States."
ABOUT HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
Hackensack University Medical Center, a 781-bed nonprofit teaching and research hospital, was Bergen County’s first hospital founded in 1888. It was also the first hospital in New Jersey and second in the nation to become a Magnet®-recognized hospital for nursing excellence, receiving its sixth consecutive designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The academic flagship of the Hackensack Meridian Health network, Hackensack University Medical Center is Nationally-Ranked by U.S. News & World Report 2022-2023 in four specialties, more than any other hospital in New Jersey. The hospital is home to the state's only nationally-ranked Urology and Neurology & Neurosurgery programs, as well as the best Cardiology & Heart Surgery program. It also offers patients nationally-ranked Orthopedic care and one of the state’s premier Cancer Centers (John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center). Hackensack University Medical Center also ranked as High-Performing in conditions such as Acute Kidney Failure, Heart Attack (AMI), Heart Failure, Pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Diabetes and Stroke. As well as High Performing in procedures like Aortic Valve Surgery, Heart Bypass Surgery (CABG), Colon Cancer Surgery, Lung Cancer Surgery, Prostate Cancer Surgery, Hip Replacement and Knee Replacement. This award-winning care is provided on a campus that is home to facilities such as the Heart & Vascular Hospital; and the Sarkis and Siran Gabrellian Women’s and Children’s Pavilion, which houses the Donna A. Sanzari Women’s Hospital and the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, ranked #1 in the state and top 20 in the Mid-Atlantic Region in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-23 Best Children’s Hospital Report. Additionally, the children’s nephrology program ranks in the top 50 in the United States. Hackensack University Medical Center is also home to the Deirdre Imus Environmental Health Center and is listed on the Green Guide’s list of Top 10 Green Hospitals in the U.S. Our comprehensive clinical research portfolio includes studies focused on precision medicine, translational medicine, immunotherapy, cell therapy, and vaccine development. The hospital has embarked on the largest healthcare expansion project ever approved by the state: Construction of the Helena Theurer Pavilion, a 530,000-sq.-ft., nine-story building, which began in 2019. A $714.2 million endeavor, the pavilion is one the largest healthcare capital projects in New Jersey and will house 24 state-of-the-art operating rooms with intraoperative MRI capability, 50 ICU beds, and 175 medical/surgical beds including a 50 room Musculoskeletal Institute.
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