Spring, 2013 - Hartford Hospital!

Beyond Advanced
Our new Transplant Center opens its doors
From its cozy waiting area to sun-filled exam rooms, the Transplant Center at Hartford Hospital provides a warm
and welcoming environment. The bright and airy suite glows with the look of burnished wood all the way down
to infection-resistant floors. The Transplant Center recently opened in a renovated space on the third floor of the
85 Seymour Street Medical Office Building.
“Our new center provides the infrastructure we need to deliver full Medicare-certified care. At the Transplant
Center, all the physicians are under one roof. Patients don’t need to go from doctor to doctor,” said liver transplant
surgeon Patricia A. Sheiner, M.D., director of transplantation at Hartford Hospital.
“Patients, referring physicians and the transplant team can communicate easily via advanced technology in our
conference room. The complex nature of transplant surgery demands a collaborative approach,” added Dr. Sheiner.
A lasting legacy
Hartford Hospital performed its first kidney transplant in 1971
and has been at the forefront of transplant surgery ever since.
Cardiologist James E. Dougherty, M.D., recalled one major milestone
when he recounted the surgery performed by Dr. Henry Low. “In
the fall of 1984 Andy Buczek was the first heart transplant patient
at Hartford Hospital and the first successful heart transplant in the
state of Connecticut.” Two hip operations, a colon resection and two
children later, he remains alive and well. Another groundbreaking
surgery occurred in 1996 when the late David Hull, M.D., performed
the first laparoscopic living kidney donor surgery in New England.
The statistics from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
about Hartford Hospital’s impact on transplant surgery are compelling:
Hartford Hospital has been the third-busiest kidney transplant
center in all of New England over the past 25 years; on a cumulative
basis, Hartford Hospital has performed more liver transplants
over the past 25 years than any other hospital in the state; Hartford
Hospital performs the most heart transplants in the state; and in
2012, Hartford Hospital performed the second-highest number of
adult heart transplants in New England after Tufts Medical Center
in Massachusetts.
The need for liver, kidney and heart donors
Liver disease can permanently scar the liver and overwhelm its
ability to heal. The normally resilient organ progressively loses its
ability to make proteins, fight infection, digest food and store energy.
When liver damage becomes irreversible, a transplant offers
the only chance at life. Livers for transplantation may come
from living or non-living donors. The American Liver Foundation
stated there are over 16,000 Americans currently waiting for a liver
transplant with approximately 6,000 transplants performed in the
U.S. each year.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, approximately
26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease. The number
of aging individuals with end-stage kidney disease has risen sharply
over the past few decades. Right now, more than a thousand
Connecticut residents are waiting for a kidney transplant. Like
livers, kidneys can also be transplanted from living or deceased
donors and at Hartford Hospital about half of all transplanted kidneys
come from living donors. Thanks to advances in surgery and
anti-rejection drugs, someone with a transplanted kidney has a
better survival rate than a patient on dialysis.
Many end-stage heart failure patients suffer irreversible heart
Dr. Patricia A. Sheiner
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