Mayo Clinic Hospital Performs 100th Liver Transplant

Thursday, May 02, 2002

May 2, 2002 – (Phoenix) – The 100th liver transplant surgery was performed at Mayo Clinic Hospital on Wednesday, April 24, marking a significant milestone for the transplant center that opened in June 1999.

Quite fittingly, the 100th liver transplant occurred during National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, a time set aside to recognize the importance of organ donation.

The 100th patient is a 68-year-old man from Surprise, Ariz., who had suffered from complications of hepatitis B. He was doing well following surgery and experienced no complications of significance.

The milestone surgery was led by Dr. David Mulligan, chair, Division of Transplant Surgery, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, and a team of health care professionals. The first liver transplant number at Mayo's hospital in North Phoenix was completed on June 6, 1999, just eight months after the opening of the hospital in October 1998. Mayo Clinic Hospital is the only hospital in the Mayo system designed, built and owned by Mayo.

The first patient, Fred Carreo, Phoenix, who was 59 at the time of the transplant, had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, a virus that is the leading reason for liver transplantation in the U.S. Carreo is an active volunteer with Mayo Clinic Scottsdale as well as a vocal advocate for organ donation. Because he personally experienced a liver transplant, he frequently visits Mayo Clinic Scottsdale patients who are awaiting transplantation to offer support and encouragement.

Until the opening of the Mayo Clinic Hospital Liver Transplant Program, Phoenix was the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. without a liver transplant program.

In March 2001, the Transplant Center accomplished another first in the state of Arizona when the first living donor liver transplant was performed. The recipient, 31-year-old Tim Winklepleck of Glendale, was rapidly deteriorating from advanced liver disease when it was determined that his brother, Ryan, 24, qualified as a living liver donor. In such a procedure, the right lobe, representing approximately 60 percent of Ryan's liver, was removed and transplanted into Tim, in side by side surgeries.

Ryan and Tim recovered well from their surgeries, being that the liver is the only organ in the human body that is able to regenerate to its original size within a matter of a few weeks. In January, Ryan Winklepleck was selected to carry the Olympic Torch in the U.S. Olympic Torch Relay, in the Yuma, Ariz., leg of the journey toward the final destination in Salt Lake City.

Since that first living donor liver transplant, MCH has performed 11 more such procedures, on patients from a variety of backgrounds and for a variety of reasons. In one case, a physician from Cottonwood, Ariz. donated a portion of his liver to his 60-year-old mother from Puerto Rico who has suffered from complications of hepatitis C. In another, an Idaho man who needed a liver was saved because his 24-year-old son, a donated a portion of his liver to him. The recipient, 49, is believed to be the first patient in the U.S. with his particular liver ailment – hepatopulmonary syndrome – to receive a liver transplant.

The Mayo Clinic Hospital Liver Transplant Program has outcomes that exceed national averages in all categories such as in one-month (100 percent) and one-year (94 percent) patient survival. The program is ranked in the top 5 percent nationally.

Mayo Clinic is a private group practice of medicine dedicated to providing diagnosis and treatment of patient illnesses through a systematic focus on individual patient needs. Mayo Clinic Scottsdale offers outpatient healthcare in 66 medical and surgical specialties and programs. Mayo Clinic also provides care at primary care practices located throughout the Valley and at the new Mayo Clinic Hospital. The hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the Clinic.

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