The Texas Transplant Institute at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital is the nation’s leading provider of living donor kidney transplants, according to recently released data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the governmental agency that tracks organ donation and transplantation.

The hospital has achieved this top national ranking through a robust paired exchange program that began in March 2008. Thirty-four percent of the hospital’s total living donor kidney transplants are now paired exchanges, a process in which a person who needs a kidney transplant has a friend or family member willing to donate a kidney but who are incompatible. Through management of a detailed database, kidney recipients are paired with an unrelated donor who is a better match due to various immunological factors.

“Our successful program has major national implications,” said Francis Wright, M.D., transplant surgeon and director of solid organ transplantation at the Texas Transplant Institute. “It’s estimated that more than 6,000 people currently are on the national kidney transplant waiting list with donors who cannot donate because they are not a match. The paired exchange program is the single most important advancement in kidney transplantation over the past two decades.”

In 2009, 162 living donor kidney transplants were performed at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital boosting the living donor kidney program into the nation’s top spot. So far this year, 74 living donor kidney transplants have been performed at the hospital

The hospital’s first kidney donor exchange was in March 2008. To date, 70 people in need of a kidney have received one through either a two- and three-way exchange. Most of these patients are from South Texas, a region with one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of kidney disease. But more and more, the hospital is serving patients from across the country including Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Some patients have waited years for a life-changing transplant before finding the Texas Transplant Institute. These patients’ quality of life is significantly diminished by the need for ongoing kidney dialysis several times a week in some cases.

"Patients needing kidney transplants who have incompatible donors no longer have to take 'no' for an answer. We can offer them hope. We are turning 'no' into 'yes' for many patients who have a willing, but incompatible donor," said Adam Bingaman, M.D., transplant surgeon and director of the paired exchange program.

Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital is one of eight acute care hospitals within the Methodist Healthcare System. Texas Transplant Institute merges organ transplant and blood and marrow stem cell transplant programs. Programs include: kidney, pancreas, liver, heart, pediatric and adult blood and marrow stem cell transplantation. Texas Transplant Institute’s mission is to provide unsurpassed care, cutting-edge research and exemplary patient education.