The Winter 2023 issue covers UNOS’s new national liver pairing program, waiting-time adjustments for kidney candidates affected by historical race-based eGFR calculations, and a recap of 2022 — a record-setting year with more than 42,800 transplants performed in the U.S. Inside: research on the Liver Transplant Risk Score, remimazolam case management, the survival benefit of living donor liver transplant, and a quality initiative driving immediate post-op extubation from 13% to 87%. Plus a special topic on diagnosing IVC stenosis with TEE, a spotlight on VCU’s Hume/Lee Transplant Center, and a Council report on regional meetings, the new ILTS-SATA pre-meeting at ASA, and SATA’s international representation in Korea and Chile.
Inside This Issue
- UNOS News — National Liver Pairing Program for living donor swaps, waiting-time adjustments for African-American kidney candidates affected by prior race-based eGFR, and a 29-program national DCD lung transplant collaboration
- Research Updates — European validation of the Liver Transplant Risk Score, anesthetic management with remimazolam, a large epidemiologic study showing 13–17 year survival gain with living donor liver transplant for MELD ≥11, a review of MELD scoring limitations, and a QA/QI initiative pushing immediate post-op extubation from 13.4% to 86.7% over five years
- Special Topics — Dr. Alex Stoker on diagnosing acute IVC stenosis during liver transplantation using TEE with color flow Doppler
- 2022 UNOS Summary — 42,800+ transplants (a 3.7% increase), records set for kidney (25,000+), liver (9,528), heart (4,111), and lung (2,692); 12th consecutive year of growth in deceased donation
- Program Spotlight — Virginia Commonwealth University Hume/Lee Transplant Center, with Dr. Spencer Liebman on the historic program (founded 1962), its Active Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis program, TPIAT for chronic pancreatitis, and the second-oldest heart transplant program in the U.S.
