10,000 kidney transplants: a landmark milestone for our world-class organ transplant center
Sixty years since University of Minnesota physicians performed the state’s first kidney transplant, M Health Fairview’s organ transplant center is celebrating a new and remarkable milestone: our 10,000th kidney transplant.
While retired police officer and volunteer firefighter Dale Sorensen became our 10,001st kidney transplant recipient this spring, his story shows how our patients are far more than just a number.
Two years ago, Sorensen began experiencing kidney failure, brought on by a combination of diabetes and the side effects of antibiotics used to treat an unrelated infection. Knowing he would eventually need a transplant, his care team at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center put him on the waiting list.
At the beginning of this year Sorensen’s condition worsened. A few days before he was scheduled to get a port for dialysis, he got a phone call: a matching kidney and pancreas had been found. The next day, March 31, 2023, he came in for a dual kidney-pancreas transplant.
This two-part procedure is recommended for people like Sorensen who need insulin to manage their diabetes. A pancreas transplant eliminates the need for insulin injections and reduces the chances of diabetes-related kidney damage down the road. Our program performed the first-ever kidney-pancreas transplant in 1966 and continues this legacy of lifesaving care today.
“We’re one of the largest centers in the country in terms of the number of dual kidney-pancreas transplants we perform,” said Karthik Ramanathan, MD, the transplant surgeon with M Health Fairview who performed Sorensen’s surgery. Ramanathan is also an assistant professor at University of Minnesota Medical School. “We have a lot of experience in kidney-pancreas transplant procedures because we’ve been doing them for over 50 years. We're comfortable caring for patients after a dual transplant and addressing any complications.”
A history of innovation
Our kidney transplant program’s success is due to the commitment and dedication of thousands of people – from surgeons to kidney specialists and our critical care, nursing, rehabilitation, and pharmacy teams. Of course, it all revolves around the generosity of organ donors.
“The work of these 10,000 transplants is the culmination of many individuals over the years,” said Raja Kandaswamy, MD, director of the kidney and pancreas transplant program at M Health Fairview and a professor at University of Minnesota Medical School. “They helped bring us to where we are today.”
This most recent transplant milestone also brought Ramanathan full circle: Having completed his transplant fellowship at the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Kandaswamy and the kidney transplant team, he performed surgeries 10,000 and 10,001.
“When you celebrate a milestone like this, it’s important to understand the time and effort that it took to get here,” said Ramanathan. “We have an excellent legacy of mentorship and teaching that allows us to shape the future of transplant and bring this lifesaving procedure to more patients.”
Shaping the future of transplant
We’re celebrating our history while looking ahead to the next frontier in kidney transplant, including ways to improve the match between kidney donors and recipients. M Health Fairview was one of the first health systems nationwide to use a new technology called eplet matching, and we lead the nation in the number of transplants done using it.
Over half of our kidney transplants to date have been through living kidney donation, and eplet matching allows us to evaluate potential donors and recipients at the molecular level to ensure the best possible match and reduce the likelihood of a recipient rejecting the donated organ.
“This new matching technology can change the way people live after kidney transplant,” said Kandaswamy. “Transplant recipients currently need immunosuppression medication to prevent them from rejecting their new kidney. If we can find increasingly better matches, we hope to be able to eliminate the need for immunosuppression.”
