Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: Allegheny General Hospital Achieves Region's Best One- and Three-Year Survival Rates

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The heart and liver transplantation programs at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), part of the Allegheny Health Network, are the region's best in patient care quality, according to the latest report by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR).

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SRTR is the official national database of organ transplantation statistics and serves as the repository of information used to analyze transplantation trends and patient outcomes in the United States.  The new SRTR report covers transplantation procedures performed at hospitals between July 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012 (for one-month and one-year outcomes) and between July 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010 (for three-year outcomes). 

AGH's liver transplant three-year patient outcomes were the best of Pittsburgh's three adult transplant centers in the SRTR report.  The program also posted the best three-year survival rate of any adult transplant center in the state and was among the top adult liver transplant programs in the country based on that same measure.    

Importantly, AGH achieved its outstanding results in liver transplantation while treating the sickest of patients. AGH also uses a higher percentage of organs from older donors - which increases the availability of life-saving transplants for those in need.  

Nearly two-thirds of AGH's liver transplant recipients had MELD scores above 21.  The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, or MELD, is the scoring system endorsed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for assessing the severity of chronic liver disease.  It is considered to be the most useful protocol in determining prognosis and prioritizing for receipt of a liver transplant.

Patients with MELD scores in the 21-30 range have a 20% expected 3-month mortality risk without transplant and those with scores in the 30-39 range have a greater than 50% expected mortality risk. 

AGH's heart transplant program was equally impressive during the SRTR reporting period posting the best one-month and three-year patient survival rates in the region and ranking among the top programs in the country based on three-year outcomes.  More than half of the hospital's heart transplant recipients were treated with mechanical circulatory support devices prior to transplantation.

Among the key drivers of these superior results include the hospital's multi-disciplinary team based approach to patient care, tailored immunosuppression strategies and the application of sophisticated tools such as cardiac MR imaging and gene expression profiling in post-transplant management.

AGH's kidney and pancreas transplant outcomes also were strong during the review period.

"Allegheny General Hospital has long distinguished itself as a leading referral center for end-stage organ failure and transplantation.  The exceptional quality of care demonstrated in the SRTR report reflects a commitment to clinical excellence and personalized care at every step of the patient's experience," said Tony Farah, MD, Chief Medical Officer for the Allegheny Health Network.   

"These results signify the efforts of an incredibly talented and dedicated multi-disciplinary team of transplant specialists who have set a high standard of care in this very specialized and sophisticated field of medicine," Dr. Farah said.

Established in 1987, AGH's transplant program and its medical staff have been innovators in the field of transplantation over the years.  AGH doctors, for example, helped pioneer the use of heart assist devices as bridges to transplantation and performed both the city's first bilateral adult kidney transplant and first laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy procedure. 

AGH is also one of just a few transplant centers in the nation to perform robotic assisted live donor nephrectomy, further minimizing the invasiveness of the procedure and its toll on kidney donors.  The hospital also has helped reduce the waiting time for kidney transplant candidates by playing a major active role in national live kidney donor exchanges. 

SOURCE Allegheny Health Network