Piedmont, University of Colorado Work Together to Benefit Transplant Patients

Dean Dusel, a manufacturing engineer and resident of Colorado Springs, Co., was a very sick husband and father of two when he was diagnosed with the Hepatitis C virus and received his first liver transplant in March 1995. Piedmont Hospital’s medical director of liver transplantation, Roshan Shrestha, M.D., was a physician at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver at the time.

Unfortunately, the Hepatitis C virus and low-level rejection over time caused Dusel to become sick again in October 2008. The Colorado hospital approved Dusel for a transplant, but a subsequent reaction to Albumin caused concern for his heart and his ability to survive another transplant. So, Dusel and the transplant coordinators in Colorado turned to Dr. Shrestha at Piedmont Hospital.

“There wasn’t a single cardiologist who said my heart had suffered from any event,” Dusel explained. “So the teams at both hospitals began working together to provide a solution.”

Dr. Shrestha remembers that Dusel was a very sick man. “I said if he was well enough to board a plane to Atlanta for evaluation, we would consider him for transplant.”

Dusel was released from University of Colorado Hospital and boarded a plane on March 20, 2009. Piedmont Hospital provides patients a two-day evaluation process that covers the gamut and saves return trips. By March 27, Dusel had undergone the necessary psychological and clinical testing including a close evaluation of his heart and was accepted on the Piedmont wait list.

“I was very sick with liver and kidney failure,” Dusel says. “So, I immediately went to the top of the list, and within the hour a donor was identified.” Dusel received his second liver and first kidney transplant on March 28, 2009.

Dusel now receives his follow-up care at the University of Colorado Hospital and is feeling better than he has in 20 years. In May, he participated in the BolderBOULDER 10K with the University of Colorado Hospital team.

“The kind of sharing that happened between Piedmont Hospital and University of Colorado Hospital leads to better outcomes and helps the whole transplant community,” Dusel says. “There are four of us now who have benefitted from the two hospitals working together for the good of the patients.”

Dusel says his will to live and survive two extreme illnesses and sets of transplants was based on his need to be there for his wife and kids.

Dr. Shrestha applauds the excellent work of LifeLink of Georgia and its ability to reach out to families and provide donors for those who would otherwise die without the lifesaving gift of organ donation.

“While it helped that a relationship existed between the Colorado transplant team and me, Piedmont Hospital is poised to accept any patient from around the country if we are able to help,”

Dr. Shrestha says. Reaching out to patients beyond the metro Atlanta area and creating a convenient program for them has been a focus of the Piedmont Transplant Institute. Pre- and post-transplant clinics are now available in Savannah, Albany and Dalton through relationships with hospitals and physicians in those communities.