PHOENIX, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Surgeons at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center today performed their 50th lung transplant this year, a remarkable number reached by only a handful of hospitals around the nation.
It was only five years ago that St. Joseph's performed its first lung transplant and just last November the hospital reached a total of 100 transplants for this young program.
The increasing pace of lung transplantations at St. Joseph's comes as patients from throughout the country are turning to the expertise of the pulmonologists and surgeons at the hospital's Heart and Lung Institute. Prior to the launch of the St. Joseph's program, many Arizona lung transplant candidates had to travel to California for the complex procedure. St. Joseph's is the only hospital in the state to perform lung transplantation.
"We are extremely proud of this program," said Ross Bremner, MD, PhD, Chief Thoracic Surgeon at St. Joseph's Heart and Lung Institute."It has grown extraordinarily quickly and has been recognized for excellence by a number of highly respected organizations. Just as impressive is the very strong survival rate here that is above the national average. The one-year survival rate for St. Joseph's patients is near 90 percent."
The name of the 50th patient has not yet been released. In total, with today's patient, the number of lung transplants has reached 160 at the hospital.
Lung transplants are among the most complicated surgical procedures. The lung transplant multidisciplinary 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 pulmonologist specialists.
SOURCE St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
