(3/9/99)
A remarkable new transplant surgery could make it easier for donors to give
up a kidney for a family member or friend.
For the first time in Salt Lake, doctors removed a kidney from a donor using
laparoscopic surgery.
Here's the story from Science Specialist Ed Yeates.
Ken and Tom Smith are even closer now because Tom gave up one of his
kidneys to save his brother's life.
Ken says, "I don't think it's kicked in yet exactly what he's done for me."
According to Tom, "We pretty much had decided a long time ago that if I could,
I would."
But for Tom, as the giver, this surgery was a new experience.
Rather than removing his kidney through a large incision, or cutting through
masses of muscle, nerve and tissue, doctors simply inserted a laparscopic tube
in his abdomen to do the operation.
Once ready, they simply reached in through another small opening and took
the kidney out - sort of like delivering a baby.
Tom says, "I've been hit by a bus, run over by bulls - so this is nothing -
this is nothing. Physically, I feel pretty good. I have a little bloat, but I
guess that's normal."
Though pulled through a small opening, the kidney was in excellent shape.
And Ken's prognosis is the same.
Dr. LeGrande Belnap, of LDS Hospital, says, "This kidney transplant has an
extremely high liklihood - like 98 percent likelihood of relieving this
condition and it's very unlikely the condition will reoccur."
Dr. Belnap hopes the new procedure will make it easier for propsective
kidney donors to say yes.
Though the surgery itself takes longer than the old way - the incisions
are smaller, there's less pain - and recovery time is quicker.
Tom had actually returned to Wyoming. He came back today only for this press
briefing. With this new procedure, most donors recover in two to three days.
Out of 13,000 kidney transplants performed each year in this country,
3,000 to 4,000 are kidneys from living donors.
