Mobile Vascular Lab Unit To Begin in Summer - Surgery - University ...

Significant Gains in NIH Ranking
The Department of Surgery jumped from #28 in FY01 (and #31 in
FY00) to #15 in NIH grants ranking (based on research awards). The
total awards to UC Surgeons in FY02 was $4,088,546. The UC
College of Medicine is ranked 19/73 for public medical schools and
42/125 total public and private medical schools.
The UC Department of Surgery has surpassed not only Ohio State but
also Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Columbia, Emory, and several other
prominent players in NIH ranking. This is an important indication
that UC Surgeons is being recognized nationally, and that its surgeons
and researchers are helping to shape the future of surgery and medicine.
The Department is poised with new recruits coming on board in
July to jump even higher in NIH ranking next year.
UC Matches First Female Vascular
Surgery Fellow
Amy B. Reed, M.D., Program Director of the University of
Cincinnati Vascular Surgery Fellowship, has successfully matched
UC's first female vascular surgery fellow, Catherine Caggianos,
M.D. Dr. Caggianos will begin the two-year clinical fellowship in
July 2004. The UC Division of Vascular Surgery's strong commitment
to state-of-the-art endovascular surgical training in addition to
complex open surgical techniques has allowed the Division to continue
to attract top candidates from across the country, while other top
programs in the country have gone unmatched.
More Vascular Surgery News:
Harold Davis, Ph.D., of the Vascular Surgery Division, presented a
poster entitled "The Role of the Cytoskeleton in Cellular Adhesion
Molecule Expression in Tumor Necrosis Factor-Stimulated
Endothelial Cells" at the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology
meeting in Chicago on June 6-8, 2003. Other authors were Elizabeth
VandenBerg and John Edwards.
The Division of Vascular Surgery is also proud to announce that Amy
B. Reed, M.D., recently passed the American Board of Vascular
Surgery Certifying Examination and is now fully Board Certified in
Vascular Surgery.
Liver Transplant Program in Full Swing
The University of Cincinnati Liver Transplant Program has performed
more adult liver transplants in Cincinnati over the past six
months than the other four Ohio liver transplant programs combined.
As a result, many more patients have been removed from the waiting
list and returned to a normal life. UC Surgeons have performed more
than 50 liver transplants (with a 100% survival rate) since December
2002, twice the number of transplants ordinarily performed in a similar
time period.
This increase in transplant activity has occurred largely due to the
more aggressive recruitment of local and statewide organ donors
through the widespread use of "extended criteria donors." Whereas
organ donors with advanced age, certain types of infections, contain-
ing high degrees of fat, among other factors, were previously not considered
for liver donation, the new approach has enabled the acceptance
of these organ donors by minimizing the time the donor is without
blood flow as well as manipulating post-transplant immunosuppression
drugs. Nearly all liver donors are now deemed acceptable
for transplant, with very favorable results.
Under the direction of Steven M. Rudich,
M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Surgery
and Director of Liver Transplant Services, the
liver transplant program has made great
strides forward. Within the next few months,
the UC Liver Transplant Program will resume
adult-to-adult live-donor liver transplants. In
this case, an exceptionally healthy relative
(usually) has approximately 60% of his/her
Steve Rudich, M.D., Ph.D.
liver removed, which is then given to the
recipient. The liver regenerates in both the donor and recipient. UC
Surgeons were the first in Ohio to offer live-donor transplants to
patients with liver disease.
In addition, more widespread use of donation after cardiac death
(DCD) organ donors will be realized through the use of extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technique that allows reoxygenation
and revitalization of organs after death. UC Surgeons are
one of only two groups in the world to use ECMO technology to prepare
livers from DCD organ donors for transplantation.
UC Surgeons are well on their way to creating the largest, most successful
and aggressive liver transplant program in Ohio. However,
only the selfless commitment of Ohioans makes this service possible.
In concert with LifeCenter, the UC Liver Transplant Program is working
to keep Ohioans free of the life-threatening complications of endstage
liver disease. For further information or to make a referral,
call (513) 558-3892.
More Transplant Surgery News:
Transplant Recipients May Be Prone to West Nile Virus
Encephalitis. Reuters and Medscape recently published the results
described in an abstract presented by Debby DeSalvo, M.D., a transplant
nephrology fellow in the UC Department of Internal Medicine,
and members of the UC Division of Transplantation at the American
Transplant Congress in June. Two transplant recipients at UC were
treated for West Nile Virus encephalitis during the past year; one
patient died after standard tests failed to reveal the diagnosis in time
for treatment, while the subsequent patient recovered fully after additional
tests revealed cerebral edema. This latter patient was taken off
immunosuppressants and put on a course of alpha interferon, an
experimental therapy; he recovered within days and is doing well 10
months later.
Medscape also published the combined results of two separate
abstracts presented at the American Transplant Congress by Joseph
Buell, M.D., and Manish Gupta, M.D., showing that a history of
breast or prostate cancer is not necessarily a contraindication for solid
organ transplantation. Patients with stage I or II cancer do relatively
well, but a history of stage III breast or prostate cancer carries a very
poor prognosis.