MURRAY, Utah — Intermountain Healthcare performed a record 222 adult patient abdominal organ transplants in 2020 thanks to organ donors and a transplant program committed to key safety protocols to ensure that these lifesaving procedures continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In 2019, the Intermountain Transplant Program performed 186 transplants, which was a record year at the time. The biggest increase in 2020 was in liver transplantation, which jumped from 53 in 2019 to 79 in 2020.
“In an unprecedented year, we could not have given so many people new leases on lives without the generosity of so many deceased and living donors and their families,” said Dr. Diane Alonso, transplant surgeon and medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s abdominal transplant program. “We are honored to be stewards of these selfless gifts.”
Last February, St. George News chronicled a local kidney transplant recipient.
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) reported a 6% increase in organ donation for deceased donors in the United States in 2020. That’s the 10th consecutive year of setting an all-time record.
A total of 12,587 people donated one or more organs to save the life or improve the life of another, which resulted in more than 33,000 people receiving life-saving transplants nationwide in 2020.
There are currently more than 108,000 people on organ transplant waiting lists in the United States. In Utah, there are 773 people waiting for an organ.
To continue these life-saving procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intermountain Transplant Program, which is based at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray and also handles Southern Utah transplant recipients, implemented key safety protocols and turned to telemedicine visits whenever possible to continue evaluating and treating potential transplant patients.
“During an unimaginable year and one many would like to forget – Intermountain and the populations of Utah, Idaho and Nevada through organ donation created a record number of opportunities to save the lives of others,” said Dr. Richard Gilroy, transplant hepatologist and Intermountain Healthcare’s liver transplant medical director. “And despite the barriers and challenges of COVID-19, transplant patients were a population that saw a rare silver lining to the pandemic.”
The Intermountain Transplant Program, which serves patients throughout the nation, and partners with DonorConnect, the organ procurement agency for Utah and the Intermountain West, also continues to be the only transplant program in Utah to participate in a paired kidney exchange program with the National Kidney Registry. These partnerships facilitate even more transplants for incompatible pairs or recipients than in years past.
“Participating in the National Kidney Registry, improves our recipient’s best chance of finding a well-matched donor,” said Dr. Donald Morris, nephrologist and Intermountain Healthcare’s kidney transplant medical director. “Transplantation then gets them back to their families and living a full and active life.”
These 2020 record numbers also come despite Intermountain pausing its living donor program for a short time in the spring when COVID-19 initially struck.
To learn more about organ donation or register to become an organ donor, go to intermountainhealthcare.org/donatelife.
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