Doctors from Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals discuss new model and emerging developments in organ transplants.
In September, the Cleveland Clinic made news by announcing a new model for prioritizing patients waiting for lung transplants.
For some context, in 2022, there more than 3,000 candidates added to the national lung transplant waitlist with more than 2,600 lung transplants being performed. Those numbers are according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
The study, and subsequent model developed by the Clinic takes the process that was in place for the old transplant wait list system and accounts for additional factors.
By including new factors like how long a patient has been on the waiting list, the severity of their disease, and how their condition is progressing - doctors hope to reduce deaths among those in need of donor lungs.
We discussed the new system as well as the evolving field of organ transplant with Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals doctors.
Guests:
-Yasir Abu-Omar, MD, Director, Cardiothoracic Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support, University Hospitals
- Maryam Valapour, M.D, Director of Lung Transplant Outcomes at the Respiratory Institute, The Cleveland Clinic
- Jarrod Dalton, PhD, Director, Lerner Research Institute's Center for Populations and Health Research, The Cleveland Clinic