UPMC study may reshape liver transplant standards

[Guest guest]

Sixty-five

percent of 121 patients who underwent live-donor liver transplants at the

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center experienced a

significant complication, he said.

At

that rate, he said, complications were " higher than reported elsewhere, "

even though UPMC patients had not died or lost transplanted organs at an

unusual rate.

" I

never heard of anything like this, " said Dr. Alan R. Leff,

a professor at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who is editor of the

journal Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. " It's

strange that the dean would ask for a paper to be withdrawn. "

By

the time the paper was withdrawn, tensions between Starzl

and UPMC had escalated, and Starzl said UPMC

curtailed his access to patient records because he was retired from clinical

practice.

Starzl said he received a letter telling

him he could not enter UPMC premises -- including the Starzl

Transplantation Institute at UPMC Montefiore in Oakland --

unless he needed personal medical care. Starzl was allowed in his office along Fifth

Avenue………

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_602934.html

Barb in Texas - Together in the Fight - Whatever it

Takes!

Son Ken (34) UC 91 PSC 99, LTX 6/21 & 6/30 2007

@ Baylor/Dallas