Patients who live in the Austin area can now undergo liver transplant evaluations (LTE) at the Baylor Scott & White Transplant Hepatology Clinic in Round Rock, Texas. The first LTEs outside of Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, and Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth, began the last week of January.
The Round Rock clinic is one of 10 hepatology outreach clinics located throughout Texas. Hepatologists on the medical staff at Baylor Dallas and BSW Fort Worth travel to these outreach clinics to see patients and provide ongoing care.
Physicians providing the evaluations in Round Rock include transplant hepatologists Raja Dhanekula, MD, and James Trotter, MD, and surgeons Robert Goldstein, MD, and Giuliano Testa, MD.
“We are providing about 25 percent of our outpatient care in our outreach clinics,” James Trotter, MD, medical director of hepatology outreach strategy at Baylor Dallas says. “This means we can see patients where they live, and they only need to come to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for specialized services, such as transplant surgery. It makes managing liver disease much easier for our patients, and we are pleased to expand our liver transplant evaluations to patients in the Austin area. We hope to offer the evaluations in Round Rock once a month.”
Baylor Scott & White takes lead on improving liver health
The burden of liver disease is increasing in Dallas/Fort Worth and throughout the nation. In addition to alcohol abuse or misuse, there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a leading cause of cirrhosis.
Baylor Scott & White transplant team performs its 21st robotic living donor hepatectomy
Living liver donors report an immense emotional and spiritual benefit from knowing they are saving the life of a loved one. However, it is impossible to overlook the surgical trauma, cosmetic scars and surgical risks to which otherwise healthy donors are exposed with this major operation. To mitigate the potential harm to donors, Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute has begun performing robotic living donor hepatectomies, one of only two programs in the United States to do so.
New preservation technologies transform liver transplant
Three new organ preservation systems allow transplant surgeons to travel farther distances to procure donor livers and provide the ability to better assess potential donor livers that may have borderline function. Through the use of these new preservation systems, Baylor Scott & White Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute has greatly expanded its options for accepting donor livers.
Baylor Scott & White Health delivers multidisciplinary care to combat rise in liver cancer
In Texas, a disproportionate number of people have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NASH cirrhosis. Combine these conditions with alcohol misuse, and you have a state with the highest rate of liver cancer in the nation.