{"id":25796,"date":"2013-03-15T09:46:33","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T14:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=25796"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:29:25","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:29:25","slug":"ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/","title":{"rendered":"UMMC Transplant Team Completes First Liver Case In 22 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The University of Mississippi Medical Center's transplant team conducts the first liver transplant in 22 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

JACKSON, Miss. \u2013 In an operation that gave a Jackson mother a new chance at life, a team at the University of Mississippi Medical Center earlier this month successfully completed the state\u2019s first liver transplant in 22 years.<\/p>\n

The recipient Karen Battle, received her new liver on March 4 and is headed back to her south Jackson home today, said Dr. Christopher Anderson, UMMC associate professor of transplant surgery and division chief of transplant and hepatobiliary surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve given me my life back,\u201d Battle said of the University Transplant team, the donor and donor\u2019s family. \u201cI\u2019ve learned that you should celebrate every moment you have. If you\u2019re holding back, waiting for something special, don\u2019t. Live and enjoy it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Autoimmune hepatitis, a condition brought on in 2009 through no fault of her own, turned Battle\u2019s immune system against her own liver causing cirrhosis.<\/p>\n

Through the last four years she fought the disease with the help of specialists from Nashville to New Orleans. Despite those efforts, her condition worsened and it became clear Battle, 36, would eventually need a new liver.<\/p>\n

More than a year ago, a specialist at Vanderbilt University put her in touch with Anderson, who had moved back to his native Mississippi from Washington University in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

On arrival at UMMC, Anderson had begun building the team of specialists and meeting the regulatory requirements to restart UMMC\u2019s liver transplant program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne person cannot do transplants. It takes a team of specialists \u2013 a hepatologist, surgeons, anesthesiologists \u2013 institutional support, commitment from administration, nursing and support staff to make a transplant program work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the physicians he hired is Dr. Brian Borg, associate professor of digestive diseases and the state\u2019s only transplant hepatologist, who joined the team in August. Another is Dr. Mark Earl, assistant professor of transplant surgery.<\/p>\n

At the end of January the United Network for Organ Sharing, the governing body for organ transplantation in the U.S., approved UMMC\u2019s liver transplant program.<\/p>\n

Battle\u2019s condition worsened throughout February to the point where she was admitted to UMMC\u2019s Wallace Conerly Hospital for Critical Care on Feb. 27 and was put on UMMC\u2019s liver transplant list.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in end-stage liver disease and at that point many other organs are affected. Her kidneys had stopped producing urine. We recognized she was spiraling downward,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was, in my opinion, straddling the fence of being a good candidate to even go through the procedure versus, if she gets much sicker, we\u2019re going to have to say transplant\u2019s not going to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only days after getting Battle admitted and listed, Anderson got a call saying a suitable liver was available. Earl went to procure it. At about 9:30 p.m. on March 4 transplant team members began prepping Battle to remove her severely damaged liver.<\/p>\n

Earl returned with the donated organ and the transplant continued, ending in the early morning hours of March 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a complex case and Karen\u2019s condition was very fragile. For our first case we had wanted a more simple case, but our team worked together just like we\u2019d wanted,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

Borg said the chances of Battle\u2019s survival were very low if she had not received the organ.<\/p>\n

Battle\u2019s mother, Kay Riley, supported her daughter throughout the diagnosis, disease, transplant and recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have this perfect daughter who didn\u2019t smoke or drink. She\u2019s church-going and all of a sudden she has cirrhosis of the liver,\u201d Riley said.<\/p>\n

The trips to New Orleans and Nashville were expensive and time-consuming, Riley said. Having a liver transplant program in Jackson \u2013 practically her daughter\u2019s backyard \u2013 made the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was almost dead when we got word of the new liver. I don\u2019t think she would have made it if we had to go to another state for the transplant,\u201d Riley said. \u201cPeople should really always consider donating an organ. It could save someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Battle said she\u2019s incredibly grateful to the donor the donor\u2019s family. Though privacy laws keep recipient and donor families from directly exchanging names and contact information, third-party organizations such as the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency can arrange that exchange if both sides agree.<\/p>\n

The liver program marks the second-to-last step in building University Transplant\u2019s complete abdominal transplant line. The team broke a UMMC record last year with 103 kidney transplants. Now, only pancreas transplantation remains, which Anderson said may come later this year.<\/p>\n

Anderson said he expects University Transplant will handle 10-15 liver transplants this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of unsung heroes here,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cTransplant floor nurses, intensive care unit nurses, administration, dialysis nurses, blood bank staff, liver transplant coordinators and nephrologists were all key in making Karen\u2019s case a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Battle headed home 10 days after receiving her new liver, she said she\u2019ll be forever grateful to Anderson, his team and her donor. And though she\u2019ll continue needing follow-up care, the drive will be short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JACKSON, Miss. \u2013 In an operation that gave a Jackson mother a new chance at life, a team at the University of Mississippi Medical Center earlier this month successfully completed the state\u2019s first liver transplant in 22 years. The recipient Karen Battle, received her new liver on March 4 and is headed back to herRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,221,199,473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUMMC Transplant Team Completes First Liver Case In 22 Years - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMMC Transplant Team Completes First Liver Case In 22 Years - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JACKSON, Miss. \u2013 In an operation that gave a Jackson mother a new chance at life, a team at the University of Mississippi Medical Center earlier this month successfully completed the state\u2019s first liver transplant in 22 years. The recipient Karen Battle, received her new liver on March 4 and is headed back to herRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-23T13:29:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/LIVER-TRANSPLANT-2013_17.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1150\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/LIVER-TRANSPLANT-2013_17.jpg\",\"width\":\"2048\",\"height\":\"1150\",\"caption\":\"The University of Mississippi Medical Center's transplant team conducts the first liver transplant in 22 years.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/\",\"name\":\"UMMC Transplant Team Completes First Liver Case In 22 Years - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-23T13:29:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/ummc-transplant-team-completes-first-liver-case-in-22-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/4515cb1b4f8a759552c0827c3df56430\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e8e7562bf6d779d771ad8ce4cecd7ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25796"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40147,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25796\/revisions\/40147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}