PHOENIX, March 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Outpacing
long-established programs at major California and other western medical
institutions, Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical
Center in Phoenix is now home of
the busiest lung transplant program in the western United States, ranking fifth in the nation.
And, it's on track to surpass last year's record number of
life-saving operations.
The only facility in Arizona
that is actively performing lung transplantations, St. Joseph's Norton Thoracic Institute
completed its first lung transplant surgery only eight years ago.
In this short history, surgeons have performed more than 330 lung
transplantations to date--a remarkable number reached by only a
handful of the nation's hospitals.
In 2014 Norton surgeons performed 73 lung transplantations, more
than any other lung transplant program west of Houston, Texas, making it the fifth busiest
program in the nation that year. The program has continued to
improve as it ranked sixth busiest in the nation in
2013.
The Institute's annual lung transplant volume now surpasses that
at major well-established facilities like University of California Los Angeles; University of California San Francisco Medical
Center; Stanford University Medical
Center; University of Colorado, Denver;
University of Utah, Salt Lake City; and University of Washington, Seattle. The only
hospitals in the nation performing more are Cleveland Clinic
Foundation, Duke University,
University of Pittsburgh and Houston
Methodist Hospital.
"Our program has grown quickly and we are humbled and proud to
have saved so many lives," says Rajat
Walia, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of lung
transplantation at the Institute. "The numbers are impressive, but
we are most proud of our outcomes and the quality of care we give
to each individual patient. We know that centers with higher
volumes tend to have better outcomes and our program is determined
to push the frontiers of lung transplantation."
Norton's outcomes are strong with one-year survival rates above
the national average--near 90 percent.
"Numbers don't tell the whole story," says Brandi Krushelniski, St. Joseph's transplant administrator. "Lung
transplants are among the most complicated surgical procedures and
require precise, to-the-minute planning. Our expertise in quickly
finding and procuring suitable organs has been key to our
success."
The Norton Institute's lung transplant team selects candidates
who are eligible and places them on the United Network for Organ
Sharing transplant list. Surgeons have approximately six hours to
transplant a lung once one is retrieved. Following surgery,
lung transplant recipients receive lifelong care and regular
check-ups with pulmonary specialists.
Patients come to the Norton Institute at St. Joseph's from throughout the country for
their care. Prior to the launch of the St. Joseph's program, many Arizona lung transplant candidates had to
travel out of state for the complex procedure. Currently, nearly
1,700 people nationwide await a life-saving lung
transplant. To learn more about registering as an organ donor,
visit Donate Life online at dnaz.org.
--St.
Joseph's--
About Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical
Center
Located in the heart of Phoenix, Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital
and Medical Center is a 608-bed, not-for-profit hospital that
provides a wide range of health, social and support services with
special advocacy for the poor and underserved. St. Joseph's is a nationally recognized center
for quality tertiary care, medical education and research. It
includes the internationally renowned Barrow Neurological
Institute, the Norton Thoracic Institute, and Arizona's first Level I Trauma Center verified
by the American College of Surgeons. The hospital is also a
respected center for maternity care, orthopedics, oncology and many
other medical services. U.S. News & World Report routinely
ranks St. Joseph's among the best
hospitals in the United States for
neurology and neurosurgery.
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SOURCE St. Joseph's
Hospital