* First time hospital has transplanted five patients in such a short period of time
* Today (22), at one-month anniversary, doctors announce all five patients are doing well
* Two livers, two kidneys and a heart were all transplanted
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at StanfordRobert Dicks, 650-497-8364
For the transplant teams at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, it was a busy day. Really busy. Like, record-setting busy.
In a whirlwind of care team heroics, Packard Children’s performed five organ transplants within 24 hours starting Monday, April 22. “We’ve done four in a day before, but never five,” said Louise Furukawa, MD, anesthesia resource coordinator. Transplants happen with little notice once donor organs become available, so Furukawa and Echo Rowe, MD, had huge roles quickly coordinating operating rooms, assigning staff, moving cases around and more. “Thanks to our team’s skill and experience, everyone knew where to be and what to do in order to be ready for an epic day.”
Now, at the one-month anniversary, doctors have announced that all the surgeries were a success and that the patients are recovering well. “We won’t forget this experience,” said transplantation chief Carlos Esquivel, MD, who’s been transplanting organs for 25 years. “It took quick planning and incredible teamwork by surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and care teams throughout the hospital.”
It was certainly an unprecedented 24 hours for Packard Children’s, home to the largest pediatric solid organ transplant program in America, including:
* A liver transplant program that is #1 in outcomes nationally.* A kidney transplant program ranked #1 by the United Network for Organ Sharing.* The only pediatric heart transplant program in the Bay Area, one ranked in the nation’s top 10.
“This was the ultimate demonstration of the passion we have for healing children through transplant,” said Concepcion, who once led five kidney transplants in two days. “Care teams throughout the hospital immediately got into it. Experience matters, and they all put in lots of extra hours in order to ensure everything would go smoothly.” Concepcion also noted that other surgeons postponed scheduled cases to make room for the transplants. “It was impressive but not surprising,” he said. “Everyone was thrilled to see so many transplants save so many lives in such a short period of time.”
Of course, the gift of organ donation keeps on giving. That’s why the next day (April 23), while intensive care specialists were busy managing the patients’ post-transplant recovery, surgeon Reinhartz was back at it. At 3 p.m., he returned to the hospital’s Ford Family Surgery Center to lead the transplant of a donor heart to save the life of a baby.
That meant six transplants in 36 hours. Perhaps another record?
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is an internationally recognized 311-bed hospital, research center and leading regional medical network providing a full complement of services for the health of children and expectant mothers. In partnership with the Stanford University School of Medicine, our world-class doctors and nurses deliver innovative, family-centered care in every pediatric and obstetric specialty. Packard Children’s is annually ranked as one of the nation’s finest by and the only Northern California children’s hospital with specialty programs ranked in the Top 10. Learn more about the Packard Children’s Health Alliance at ; explore our hospital expansion at ; and find our full range of preeminent programs at . Like us on , watch us on and follow us on .