CHICAGO, Ill. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — There are more than 780,000 people living with kidney disease. On average, 25,000 people will receive a kidney transplant each year. But 90,000 people are still on the waitlist. Their lives depend on finding a donor. Now a new approach to surgery is helping get patients the kidney they so desperately need.
John Nicholas is the very first known patient to be awake during his own kidney transplant surgery.
“They called out my name and told me about certain milestones they had reached. Like, ‘Oh hey, we actually connected it.’ ‘Hey, we’re sewing things up,’” he recalled.
John has been living with kidney issues since he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in high school and it was an elementary school pal — Pat, who came to his rescue and donated his kidney.
“We’ve always said to each other that, you know, we’re ride or die friends,” John said.
But for some patients — general anesthesia can cause life-threatening complications. Now surgeons from Northwestern are using a single spinal anesthesia shot — the same type of sedation used for C-Sections — giving higher risk, and older patients a chance of transplantation. 74-year-old Harry Stackhouse was the second patient to have the surgery while awake — with a kidney donated by his daughter.
Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, Transplant Surgeon for the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Transplant Center told Ivanhoe, “He’s 74-years-old, and we know that when we do general anesthesia on older patients, they have more of a significant cognitive decline.”
The surgery? Took less than two hours.
“Not one time did I feel, not even the shot. I didn’t feel anything,” recalled Harry.
Harry was home within 36 hours. John walked out of the hospital the very next day.
“He literally walked out of the hospital less than 24 hours after a kidney transplant. Just those words in and of themselves is amazing,” said Dr. Nadig.
Giving more patients a chance of a dialysis-free, healthy life, Northwestern Medicine is the only one in the country with this type of program.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Source:
https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.22.01357
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Erin Valle Haines
Media Relations Video Specialist at Northwestern Medicine
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