Transplant Digest Fall 2020
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FALL 2020 TRANSPLANTdigest A BI-ANNUAL PUBLICATION OF MEDSTAR GEORGETOWN TRANSPLANT INSTITUTE Hepatitis C Positive Organs Increase Access to Transplant The wait time for an organ transplant can be significant, ranging from months to years. For patients in need of kidney or liver transplant, one extremely effective approach to shortening wait times is the use of living donor organs. Another newer strategy to further expand organ supply is the use of hepatitis C positive organs from living or deceased donors in patients who do not have the disease. A revolution in the treatment of hepatitis C has allowed physicians to cure the disease with medications Jason Hawksworth, MD, performs surgery using the da Vinci® robot. continued on page 9 Clinical Spotlight: Robotic Liver and Pancreas Surgery MedStar Georgetown Transplant hepatopancreaticobiliary surgeries in Institute is home to one of the only the country.” programs in the country that offers robotic liver and pancreas resection for Prior to the robotic surgical option benign and malignant tumors of the being available, a laparoscopic liver, pancreas, and bile ducts. approach was the only minimally invasive surgical option. While Notes Jason Hawksworth, MD, that approach offered many chief of Robotic Surgery at MedStar patient benefits, there was still a Georgetown Transplant Institute, large volume of cases, about 40 to “Currently, 90 percent of our practice 50 percent, that could not be is focused on robotic surgeries, performed laparoscopically. Robotic and we performed 100 robotic surgery allows us to extend the benefits resections during the last calendar of a minimally invasive approach to a year—the highest volume of robotic broader population of patients. continued on page 9 IN THIS ISSUE 2 Letter From the Executive Director 4 Simultaneous Pancreas and Kidney 6 Living Liver Donor Program Transplantation Yields Better Outcomes 2 New Safety Protocol Allowed MedStar Increases Access to Transplantation for Diabetics Georgetown Transplant Institute to Perform 7 MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute More Kidney Transplants Than Any Other U.S. 5 Can Pediatric Liver Transplant Patients Expect is Largest Center of Minor Blood Group Hospital During Pandemic’s Height a Normal Life Expectancy? Incompatible Transplants 3 Paired Kidney Exchange Markedly Increases 5 Inflammasome Activation Linked to Poor 8 Meet Our New Physicians Number of Transplants Outcomes in Comorbid COVID-19 Patients 10 By the Numbers: MedStar Georgetown’s Transplant Programs LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR New Safety Protocol Allowed MedStar Georgetown Transplant Dear Colleague, Institute to Perform More Kidney Transplants Than Any Other U.S. What an extraordinary time we are Hospital During Pandemic’s Height living in. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the MedStar Georgetown Transplant During the height of the COVID-19 Institute as it did everyone, bringing dramatic changes and raising questions pandemic (March through May), MedStar never before faced. We began to see Georgetown Transplant Institute performed patients with transplants and cancer more kidney transplants than any other presenting to the hospital with severe hospital in the U.S., and successfully COVID-19 in March. Immediately, safeguarded all transplant recipients and we recognized we needed to pivot living donors from contracting COVID-19. from our current clinical strategy and See our March through August volumes research and undertake a redesign of chart on page 12. our approach to care. Transplant programs across the nation From March to May, the Institute performed were shutting down, temporarily expression of caspase-1 and other 115 organ transplants—90 of which inactivating their patient listings, and markers of pyroptosis appeared to were kidney transplants with 23 of these many suggested we could not provide be present among liver and kidney transplants involving living donors. This transplants until the pandemic passed. disease patients. These were further record number is nearly equal to the total But our patients with organ failure and upregulated when COVID-19 hit, number of transplants performed by all cancer faced a higher risk of death leading to extreme inflammatory regional hospitals combined during the from their underlying disease than from changes that caused severe disease and same period. COVID-19 and needed treatment. death. These findings were published in Journal of Hepatology rapidly, and the We quickly surveyed programs across In collaboration with MedStar Georgetown’s Institute now is working towards infectious disease team and coordinated the nation, took best practices, and a clinical trial with a new substance efforts across the MedStar Health System, enacted an aggressive strategy to for treatment. create COVID-free transplant floors and the Institute took early and aggressive ICU units and implement the highest Since the beginning of this pandemic, measures to implement the highest safety safety protocols to safeguard the as our world has turned upside down, protocols to safeguard the health of health of recipients and living donors. I have been so profoundly impressed transplant recipients and living donors. Working with hospital administration, to witness the teamwork, collaboration, infection control, infectious diseases, ingenuity, selflessness, and dedication “Patients with organ failure are among the and other colleagues, we overhauled of the MedStar Georgetown most vulnerable populations, and life- all our workflows, instituting telehealth, Transplant Institute staff, both clinical saving transplants are critical. While caring breaking up clinical teams, and creating and administrative. Through their for patients with COVID-19 was an urgent the transplant only inpatient units. tireless and unselfish dedication to mission, we could not abandon equally the patients we have the privilege We also recognized the need for of caring for, we managed to safely critical transplant patients. We surveyed best data to guide how we approach our provide more kidney transplants than practices across the nation and developed a patients who contracted COVID-19 any program in the country and remain systematic approach that was individualized though community transmission. one of the most active transplant for us. Working quickly and involving Working through both MedStar programs. I am truly fortunate to work everyone from the top of the organization Health and Georgetown University, with an incredible team that treats down led to our success,” Executive Director we refocused all our research on the all our patients with such dignity in of MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, inflammatory pathways that were extraordinarily difficult times. Dr. Thomas Fishbein, said. being activated through COVID-19 among transplant, liver disease, and kidney disease patients. The enhanced safety and infection prevention protocol included: We identified critical changes in Thomas M. Fishbein, MD inflammatory pathways upregulated Executive Director • Priority COVID-19 testing for transplant among these patients, which led to the MedStar Georgetown recipients to rule out recipients who had high risk of severe disease. Increased Transplant Institute the virus before they were transplanted continued on page 12 2 TO REFER A PATIENT, CALL 202-444-3700. TRANSPLANTdigest FALL 2020 Paired Kidney Exchange Markedly Increases Number of Transplants When a patient in need of a kidney them to the top of the waiting list when transplant is not compatible with his they need a transplant. In addition, or her living donor, a paired kidney through the Family Voucher Program, exchange (PKE) can not only help if a donor is interested in donating a that initial patient get the needed kidney without having an intended transplant, it can also facilitate recipient but has a realistic concern that transplants for other recipients who a family member may need a kidney also do not have a compatible donor. transplant in the future, they are able to MedStar Georgetown Transplant designate up to five first-degree family Institute is a national leader in PKE. members who will receive vouchers In 2019, of the 115 living kidney that allow them to go to the top of the donor transplants performed at the waiting list if they ever need a kidney Institute, 57 were the result of the transplant. Institute’s participation in the National Kidney Registry’s (NKR) paired kidney Breaking down barriers exchange program. to donation Through the Institute’s partnership “Thirty-three percent of individual associated with any complications with the NKR, patients in need of a donor and recipient pairs that that result from donation, legal kidney also get help broadening their present to a transplant program representation should a donor’s search for a donor online. Through have incompatible blood types or a employment or health insurance be the program, patients searching for a positive cross match. This means they negatively affected by living donation, living kidney donor can set up a free can’t donate directly to their intended and prioritization for living donor microsite (webpage). The site gives recipient,” explains Matthew Cooper, transplant in the unlikely case that a them the chance to share their story MD, director of Kidney and Pancreas donor’s remaining kidney fails. Donors through social media with a wider Transplantation. “Fifteen years ago, we may also qualify for lost wage and travel audience, which can help them find a unfortunately told patients they had to and lodging