ATLANTA (October 15, 2019) — Piedmont Transplant Institute, Piedmont Healthcare’s service line that performs abdominal transplants (liver, kidney and pancreas), set a second consecutive internal record for the non-for-profit organization by transplanting 384 organs in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 – an increase of 18 percent for the fiscal year ending June 30. The increase also represents an improvement of nearly 40 percent since FY 2016.
In addition, during the 2018 calendar year, Piedmont became Georgia’s leading transplant center for livers, transplanting 134 of the organs. Piedmont ranks in the top 15 percent in the country in organ transplant volumes and Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, the organization’s flagship hospital, where all of the procedures were performed, ranks among the nation’s busiest non-academic transplant hospitals.
Piedmont Transplant Institute has satellite clinics in Albany, Athens, Dalton, Fayetteville, Macon, Marietta and Savannah. It will open a clinic at Piedmont Columbus Regional in the fourth quarter of 2019, providing patients in rural Georgia with access to sub-specialty care. Piedmont now serves communities that represent 70 percent of Georgia’s population.
“The incredibly talented physicians of Piedmont Transplant Institute continue to make great contributions to the patients of our state and beyond by bringing innovative treatments and clinical trials to Georgia that are saving lives,” said Charles L. Brown III, M.D., CEO of Piedmont’s Healthcare’s Physician Enterprise. “We are very excited about the new clinic in Columbus, which serves 21 surrounding counties, and how that clinic will enable even more patients to receive Piedmont Transplant’s high-quality, patient-centered care.”
Piedmont surgeons transplanted the following number of organs during Fiscal Year 2019:
- 245 kidneys (151 from deceased donors and 94 from living donors)
- 127 livers (121 deceased donors and six living donors)
- 12 pancreases
Eric Gibney, M.D., and Harrison Pollinger, D.O., who serve as Co-Program Directors of Piedmont Transplant, said organ donation – from both living and deceased donors – is essential to serving patients in need. Piedmont has roughly 1,400 patients on its kidney transplant waiting list.
“Our physicians are passionate about finding new ways to serve our patients and it is reflected in the tremendous increase in volumes we have seen in recent years, said Dr. Gibney and Dr. Pollinger. “In addition, we could not do the important work that we do without the great contribution made by LifeLink of Georgia, our Organ Procurement Organization.”
Piedmont Transplant continues to maintain outstanding outcomes for liver disease survival, kidney and liver transplant outcomes, and maintains key expertise in living donation. More than 40 percent of kidneys transplanted at Piedmont come from living donors, a key factor for better long-term outcomes. Since 1986, Piedmont Transplant has been recognized as one of the nation’s most successful transplant programs, performing nearly 4,800 transplant surgeries for kidney liver, pancreas and heart recipients.
Piedmont Transplant will move into the Piedmont Atlanta Tower in Phase II of the building’s opening in 2022 (the tower’s first five floors will open in late summer 2020). The tower was made possible in part by a $75 million gift from The Marcus Foundation.