Kidney transplant success: Dr. Joseph Murray pioneered 55 years agoDecember 20, 11:13 AMHealthcare Industry ExaminerCheryl Phillips
The first successful organ transplant in the U.S. was performed this week in 1954 in Boston by Harvard Dr. Joseph Murray. He transplanted a kidney from one identical twin to another, who lived just over eight years.
For his pioneering work on organ transplants, Dr. Murray received the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1990. Now, there are nearly 17,000 kidney transplants each year in the U.S. Ninety-eight percent of patients live at least one year after these operations.
A major barrier to individuals being accepted by a kidney transplant program in the United States is lack of adequate insurance. Transplant recipients must take immunosuppressive anti-rejection drugs for as long as the transplanted kidney functions.
In March of 2009 a bill was introduced in the Senate, 565 and in the House, H.R. 1458 that will extend Medicare coverage of the drugs for as long as the patient has a functioning transplant.
This means that patients who have lost their jobs and insurance will not also lose their kidney and be forced back on dialysis. Dialysis is currently using up $17 billion yearly of Medicare funds and total care of these patients amounts to over 10% of the entire Medicare budget.
More than 76,000 people are on waiting lists to receive a transplanted kidney. The most common grafting operation is that of eye corneas, helping to restore the sight of more than 50,000 patients annually.
sources: kidney.org, PRnews, AJMediciine
http://www.examiner.com/x-31589-Healthcare-Industry-Examiner~y2009m12d20-Kidney-transplant-done-55-years-ago-was-pioneer-for-Dr-Joseph-Murray
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