Advances

(Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.)

Team performs first live donor kidney removal
Surgeons at UW Hospital and Clinics last week successfully performed their first laparoscopic kidney removal from a living donor when they removed Jon R. Suprise’s left kidney and immediately transplanted it into his father, Raymond. The procedure is far less invasive and less painful than traditional open surgery and allows a shorter hospital stay and recovery time.

“Our first laparoscopic nephrectomy went extremely well and took just over five hours to perform,” says Anthony D’Alessandro, head of the UW transplant team and director of multiorgan transplantation. “We expect Jon to recover in seven days and Raymond in four weeks.”

The recovery time is shorter than the four to six weeks recovery that is typical with the traditional surgical method of kidney removal.

Laparoscopic nephrectomy involves making small incisions, or ports, at key points on the body surface around the kidney to permit insertion of instruments and a small camera connected to a monitor to guide the surgeons’ work. The kidney then is removed through an incision in the donor’s lower abdomen.

About 30 percent of the approximate 12,000 kidney transplants performed in the United States each year involve a live donor. The UW team joins the ranks of a handful of medical centers nationwide that offer the procedure. In addition to D’Alessandro and Truman Sasaki of Washington Hospital Center, Hans Sollinger, Yolanda Becker and Steve Nakada made up the transplant team.

Transplants, donations increase at hospital
The total number of Wisconsinites donating organs to UW Hospital’s transplant program increased significantly, from 87 donors in 1998 to 108 in 1999 – an increase of 21 donors.

In recent years, such increases have allowed physicians at the hospital, the home of the largest transplant program in the state, to make a difference in even more patients’ lives. Because an individual donor can donate as many as six major organs, the number of transplants performed at the hospital during last year also rose, in nearly every major category.

Hans Sollinger, transplant surgeon and head of the UW Hospital Transplant Program, says it was an “extraordinary year” for the program. “It’s due to the generosity and care shown by individuals in Wisconsin’s communities. They have a greater awareness of the difference that donating an organ can make. In turn, that awareness is due to the efforts of our organ procurement program, our physicians and our nurses.”

Synchotron center plans open house
Projects ranging from better computer chips to treating Alzheimer’s disease will be showcased during an open house Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Synchrotron Radiation Center near Stoughton.

Visitors also can treat themselves to ice cream made with the help of liquid nitrogen, a gas that has been cooled to 321 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. During the 1-4:30 p.m. event, staff will offer tours and explanations of ongoing research, ranging from brain cancer and Alzheimer’s to computer chips and the interstellar medium. The national research facility is funded by the National Science Foundation and operated by the Graduate School.

SRC is located at 3731 Schneider Drive, town of Dunn, north of Stoughton off Highway 51. Information: 877-2000.