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UMass Memorial Receives Approval for Live Donor Liver Transplants
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 9, 2010 Contact: Rob Brogna (508) 793-5394 (774) 317-0422 Robert.brogna@umassmemorial.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/umassmemorial
The Division of Organ Transplantation at UMass Memorial Medical Center has received approval of its live donor liver transplant program as a member program by the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS).
The UMass Memorial Medical Center transplant program, like other transplant centers, is challenged by a significant shortage of deceased donor organs for transplantations. Live donor liver transplant programs enable friends or family members to consider donating a portion of their liver to their loved ones. This approach works because the liver has the ability to regenerate itself in both the donor and recipient after transplantation.
"There are roughly only 40 transplant centers in the country currently performing living donor liver transplants," said Adel Bozorgzadeh, MD, chief of organ transplantation at UMass Memorial Medical Center and professor of surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. "This new program will offer the most advanced comprehensive care and the ability for our patients to be transplanted in a timely manner."
UMass Memorial Medical Center is the only academic medical center in Central Massachusetts with an approved OPTN/UNOS organ transplant program. The division of organ transplantation provides living and deceased donor kidney and liver transplants, as well as pancreas transplants.
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