Virginia Mason Hospital performs its 1,000th living donor kidney transplant

On Tuesday, the Virginia Mason Transplant Center performed its 1,000th living donor kidney transplant, a unique milestone that’s only been reached by 42 of the 314 transplant centers in the United States.

“It’s an exciting day for us. We’re excited to promote our program. This is basically 1,000 kidney transplants — that puts us in the top 15 percent of transplant programs in the United States in terms of volume of living donor kidney transplants,” Dr. Andrew Weiss told KIRO Radio. Weiss is the Medical Director of Virginia Mason Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program.

Beyond the accomplishment, Weiss hopes that this will bring attention to the very real need for kidney donors.

“I think the biggest takeaway here is to try to explain to the public that there’s a real need for kidney donors. There are over 1,000 kidney transplant recipients waiting for kidney transplants in the United States,” Weiss said. “Each year about 5,000 patients die while waiting for a kidney transplant and there are only about 20,000 kidney transplants that are performed in the country each year.”

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“Of those, about 7,000 are from living donor kidney transplants, and living donor kidney transplants provide the best opportunity for kidney transplant recipients. The kidneys work right away. The outcomes are the best and patients can come off the kidney transplant waiting list without having to wait the requisite four to five years.”

Weiss says that the number of living donor kidney transplants across the country has risen of late, partially due to the advent of a kidney paired donation programs, which allows donors to step forward and donate a kidney to help their loved ones even if they’re not compatible.

“So if they’re not blood type compatible or HLA compatible — which is basically the DNA road map for patients and recipients — they can still donate a kidney through a paired exchange program, and the recipient can then receive a compatible kidney through this program in exchange,” he said.

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“In lay terms, this is called a swap and in this day and age it’s done on a national level.”

The Virginia Mason Transplant Center opened in 1972 and is the largest of its kind in Washington state. The 1,000th donor and recipient was a husband and wife from Pullman, Washington, who met while students at Eastern Washington University.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for the recipients and the donors do spectacularly well, as well.”