CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Clinic said Friday it has performed more lung transplants in one year than any other transplant center in the world — and there are more than two months left in 2009.
That’s 129 lung transplants so far this year — one more than the previous annual record of 128 lung transplants by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2007. That total represents 124 single- or double-lung transplants, plus two heart-lung transplants and three liver-lung transplants.
That also more than double the 57 lung transplants the Clinic did last year, said spokesman Brian Kolonick. That big jump in patient volume undoubtedly is adding to Clinic revenues, but it’s not yet sure how much, Kolonick said.
The increasing number of lung transplants is part of an aggressive effort to expand patient eligibility guidelines, improve collaboration among Cleveland Clinic Institutes and accept the sickest patients, the Clinic said in a statement.
“The Clinic program is gaining a reputation of accepting patients that my have been refused candidacy at another program and now has a firmly established track record of good outcomes with high risk cases,” said Dr. Marie Budev, medical director for the lung transplant program, in the Clinic’s statement. “It’s very rare that we decline a patient, and there is an honest sadness when we do.”
Cleveland Clinic’s Lung Transplantation and Heart-Lung Transplantation Program uses a multidisciplinary team of transplant surgeons, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, pharmacologists, nurses, social workers, physical therapists and transplant coordinators to do its work.
More transplant patients also means more need for lungs. To meet the demand, the Clinic can travel up to 3,000 miles to secure lungs. The Clinic also accepts lungs that other centers may have turned down. For instance, it treats some lungs with antibiotics to make them usable, Kolonick said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“There are still people dying while waiting for a lung,” said Dr. Kenneth McCurry, a cardiothoracic surgeon who joined the Clinic in January 2009, in the statement. “More can be done. More donors can be utilized than are currently being utilized. More patients can receive lungs than are currently receiving them. This year, nearly half of our transplant recipients were turned away elsewhere.”
McCurry came from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, previous holder of the world’s top lung transplant center.
