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Article: Lone liver program in New Mexico shut down due to a lack of available organs; regional sharing blamed.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Transplant News
- Article date:
- July 29, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Transplant Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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University Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico has shut down its liver transplant program because of a lack of donated livers available for transplantation. It was the state's only liver transplant program.
"It is with a great deal of pain that I've had to come to this point," said Donald Fry, MD, chairman of the department of surgery at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine, who started the program in 1994.
University Hospital performed 19 liver transplants in 1998 which Fry said was enough to keep the program afloat financially. However, in 1999 the number dropped to 11 and this year only 3 liver transplants have been performed to date. ...