National Report Gives High Marks to UAMS’ Kidney, Liver Transplant Programs
| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ kidney and liver transplant programs received high national rankings in biannual data released Jan. 5 by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.
The SRTR evaluates the status of the nation’s solid organ transplant system and publicly releases the data every December/January and June/July at the directive of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The registry gave the UAMS kidney transplant program five bars – the highest ranking possible – in two categories: the speed of obtaining donor kidneys and patient survivability one year after transplant.
That places UAMS second, based on volumes and outcomes, on a list of national kidney programs with five-tier rankings. Only a handful of transplant centers across the country hold five bars in both categories.
UAMS’ liver transplant program scored four bars in each of the two categories. It is one of only 10 liver transplant centers across the country that scored four bars or higher in both categories.
UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., called the results “a tremendous accomplishment for both transplant programs, and a great way to start the new year.”
There are 256 kidney transplant programs and 147 liver transplant programs across the country. UAMS’ kidney transplant program has been operating since 1964, while its liver transplant program began in 2005. They are the only kidney and liver transplant programs available in Arkansas.
Each program-specific report is available online at www.srtr.org.
The reports provide information about the candidates awaiting transplants, how quickly they moved up the waiting list, the transplant recipients, the donors and the post-transplant outcomes. They document organ function and survivability one year after each transplant, and compare those results to the expected outcomes. Then the reports compare each program’s overall score against the national average.
UAMS mails reports to every patient in its transplant programs.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###