171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
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February 2009
MUSC is in the unique position of being the only transplantation center in the state of South Carolina. This is the case for solid organ transplant (kidney, liver and pancreas), cardiac transplant and bone marrow transplant. It represents an important responsibility for our institution and is an opportunity that is not available in most areas where Certificates of Need may allow multiple competing transplant centers. Our unique market position must be translated into excellence in outcomes and follow-up in order to best serve the people of our state. So a legitimate question to ask is: "Has the MUSC Children's Hospital fulfilled its responsibilities in the area of transplant?"
There are a number of ways to address this question. The most obvious ones are volume and outcomes to see if we are indeed taking care of the in-state need and know if we are doing a good job for these complex cases. In fact, our overall solid organ donation numbers for children and adults together are among the highest in the nation with success numbers that rank us among the top five centers in the country. Similarly, MUSC has had excellent success in heart transplant, with 100 percent hospital survival in our pediatric patients during the last five years. Last, but certainly not least, since the arrival of Michelle Hudspeth who runs our Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Service, our number of cases have more than doubled and survival rates have stayed very high near 90 percent. So, we seem to be caring for the right patient group and doing a good job in the peri-operative period...but how about the overall care?
To answer this question, one has to look at our transplant teams. MUSC has focused strongly in this area with an organized system that includes physicians, nurse specialists, pharmacists and physician extender transplant coordinators. These teams maintain 24/7 call availability and maintain outreach programs that bring patient care to the upstate where so many of our patients live and where it's the most difficult to travel from. In addition, each team has a cadre of associated physician specialists who consult on the complex problems this patient group has in the non-transplanted organs.
All of the factors addressed above have lead to excellent late survival and high levels of patient and referring physician satisfaction for all our transplant programs - excellent achievements indeed! Because of the high level of patient complexity, reaching these goals is simply not possible unless every aspect of the Children's Hospital and Medical Center work well. MUSC has accepted the responsibility and opportunity to house an excellent transplant center and we are very proud of all that has been accomplished.
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
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