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Van To Transport Kidneys For Transplant Surgery

Van To Transport Kidneys For Transplant Surgery image
Parent Issue
Day
13
Month
July
Year
1972
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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A van equipped to pick up nor kidneys from Michigan hospitals and preserve them while beings transported to transplant units, such as the one at the University of Michigan Medical Center, made its first demonstration run today. With dog kidneys being preserved on its two portable machines, the van left Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit at 9:30 a.m. for the Kellogg Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing, according to the Ann Arbor-headquartered Kidney Foundation of Michigan. The van will be on display at a charter membership meeting of the new Transplantation Society of Michigan which was formed by a group of surgeons and laymen in April in cooperation with the foundation. One of the society's purposes will be to help expedite the collection of donor kidneys from hospitals throughout Michigan for distribution to centers where patients with matching tissue are awaiting transplant surgery. At present, more than 50 Michigan patients are waiting for transplants which cannot be performed because of the lack of donor kidneys, according to a foundation spokesman. All are being sustained on kidney machines. The van's preservation machines can safely preserve kidneys up to 24 hours. Without the machines, donor kidneys can be preserved in an ice-saline bath, but must be transplanted within four to 12 hours. Funded initially with seed money from the Kidney Foundation of Michigan, the van is supported through an ongoing grant from the Michigan Department of Public Health Personal Health Services Division. It is leased through Ford Hospital and Transplantation Society members provide professional guidance and manpower. The new society's office, which is at 3374 Washtenaw next to the foundation headquarters, can be reached through a 24-hour phone answering service at 973-1577. Hospital representatives o r others may phone when the family of a patient dying of irreversible brain damage gives permission for donation of the patient's kidneys after bis death. If the donor is in a hospital in Southeastern Michigan, a surgeon on call at the U-M Medical Center, Henry Ford Hospital, the Wayne State University School of Medicine or another transplant center will take the van to the hospital of the donor. The donated kidneys will be removed and transferred to the portable preservation machines. Then the surgeon and a technician will plug the machine into the van's electrical system and deliver the kidneys to the transplant center. The van also is equipped with a mobile phone so the transplant team can be reached on the road with directions about pickup and delivery of kidneys. Recipients of the kidneys will be selected on the basis of length of titíie registered in the donor program. They will be chosen from a complete list of Michigan patients on file at the society headquarters. Patients failing despite treatment on artificial kidney machines will be given priority at the request of the center. Patients on the list with an exceptionally close match with the donor may also be given priority. Persons wishing to donate their kidneys for transplantation following death may do so by signing and carrying a donor card which is available from the foundation at 3378 Washtenaw. Dr. Edward D. Coppola, head of surgery in the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, is president of the new society. Dr. Jerry C. Rosenberg of Wayne State University is vice president; Dr. Stanley G. Dienst of Ford Hospital, secretary; and Dr. Jeremiah Turcotte, U-M Professor of surgery and head of the University Hospital kidney transplant team, treasurer.l