4000TH KIDNEY TRANSPLANT A MILESTONE FOR DOWNSTATE
Jan 16, 2007
Shortly before Christmas, a critically ill patient with end-stage renal disease arrived
at SUNY Downstate Medical Center hoping for a miracle. He got his wish when surgeons
at University Hospital of Brooklyn gave him a healthy new kidney, donated by a son
he had not seen in years. It was the 4,000th organ transplant performed at SUNY Downstate,
home to the only transplant service in Brooklyn and one of the largest in New York
State. This milestone in the history of Downstate’s Transplant Program’s was also
a transforming experience for the patient and his entire family.
Alvaro Fraser looks remarkably fit for a 69-year-old who has just had major surgery.
The new kidney is working well he says, and he feels “revitalized and rejuvenated,
like I have a whole new life ahead of me.” And so he does, reunited with children
and grandchildren—nine of them. After his divorce and move to Guyana, he mostly lost
touch with all but one of his children. Years later, when he developed renal failure
and needed a new kidney, Stanford, the son he had not seen in eight years, heard about
it and immediately offered one of his. His son’s selfless devotion still amazes Mr.
Fraser. “Stan’s just phenomenal,” he says. “I can’t find words to thank him enough.”
The family agreed that the surgery should be performed at Downstate, where Stanford
was born 35 years ago, when the family lived in the New Lots area. However, Mr. Fraser
feared that Stanford might not be a suitable donor. “I inherited diabetes from my
father, who died from it, and hypertension from my mother,” he explains, “so I might
have passed them on to my son.” But doctors found Stanford to be in perfect health.
“Your son is a wonder,” their surgeon, Dr. Nabil Sumrani, said. From then on everything
went like clockwork.
Mr. Fraser’s story illustrates why the Transplant Program at SUNY Downstate is such
an important resource for Brooklyn, especially its minority residents, who bear a
disproportionate share of kidney disease. Of the 662 people currently on the waiting
list at Downstate to receive a new kidney, 502 are African- or Caribbean-American.
Fortunately, there’s no need for borough residents to spend extra time and expense
seeking treatment elsewhere when one of the best programs is located in their own
community. The staff knows the special needs of the community and goes the extra mile
to meet them.
It is also one of the premier centers performing laparoscopic donor nephrectomies.
Using this technique, surgeons are able to remove a living donor’s kidney by making
only a small incision. Not only are there less post-operative pain and scarring, but
the donor is usually discharged from the hospital one or two days after surgery. In
the case of Mr. Fraser’s son, Stanford was able to have his work-up done in one day,
the surgery the next, and return to his home in North Carolina two days later.
“The fact that donors can more quickly return to their families and jobs makes it
easier to persuade a family member or friend to donate,” says Dr. Dale Distant, chief
of the Transplant Division at Downstate. In light of the serious organ shortage, which
has significantly increased the waiting period for transplantation, he hopes that
such surgical innovations will encourage greater donation. Dr. Distant, who serves
as chairman of the New York Organ Donor Network, is one of only 40 African-American
transplant surgeons and physicians in the nation.
Known for it innovation and surgical excellence, Downstate’s Transplant Program has
a proud history of “firsts.” Established in 1972 by Dr. Samuel L. Kountz, the nation’s
first African-American transplant surgeon, it became one of the largest and finest
programs in the country. Building on the strength of Downstate’s well-known dialysis
program, Dr. Kountz sought to make transplantation services available to all patients
with end-stage kidney disease—including minorities who, until that time, had been
largely excluded. If he were alive today, he would be delighted to know that the program
he introduced has already saved 4,000 lives.
### About SUNY Downstate Medical Center SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the
United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient’s bedside.
A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY
Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School
of Health Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, School of Public Health, University
Hospital of Brooklyn, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative including the Downstate
Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively.
SUNY Downstate ranks twelfth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty
of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated
from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.