Army-Navy Transplant

Background
The Army-Navy Organ Transplant Service is based at WRNMMC and provides solid organ transplantation expertise for all DOD healthcare beneficiaries. It is one of the oldest and most successful renal transplant programs in the country, and is fully integrated with the hospital based Nephrology and Dialysis Services. Liver and pancreas transplant services are provided in collaboration with the University of Maryland in Baltimore. It is the only UNOS certified transplant center within the DOD healthcare system.

Conditions Treated

• Any General Surgical conditions in conjunction with pancreatic, renal, or hepatic insufficiency.
• Renal, pancreatic, and hepatic transplantation.
• Living kidney donation.
• Benign and oncologic hepatobiliary surgery.
• Portal hypertension.
• Hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis access.
• Surgical treatment of tertiary hyperparathyroidism.
• Cadaveric multi-organ recovery.

Transplant Surgery
The Army-Navy Transplant Service provides state- of- the -art specialty care to all DOD healthcare beneficiaries qualifying for organ transplantation. Patients may be referred from anywhere in the country, to include Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Medical care is provided on a personal level by a multidisciplinary team of highly qualified professionals. Each Board certified surgeon is supported by nephrologists, hepatologists, nurse coordinators, pharmacists, and social services all with years of experience in the field. The integrated within the service is the DOD’s Histocompatibility and Immunology Laboratory and the Navy Regenerative Medicine Research facility on site. VA beneficiary patients may access the program via partnership through the Washington DC Veterans Hospital Nephrology Services. Patients who have undergone transplantation through the military have demonstrated superior success rates (graft survival and patient survival) compared with the national averages.

Dual Listing: Patients may be “listed “in more than one region concurrently, thereby increasing chances for organ availability. This allows patients to be listed at a transplant center nearby home, in addition to WRNMMC.

Living Donation: Both cadaveric and living donor renal transplantation are routinely performed. Living donors may use either an open surgical or a laparoscopic technique. WRNMMC participates in both regional and national kidney paired donor exchange programs and is a member of the NKR and Donor Alliance.

Dialysis Services: Both peritoneal and hemodialysis services are available on site.

Hepatic and Pancreatic Transplantation:WRNMMC is currently partnered with the University of Maryland in order to provide the best care available. All preoperative, operative, and postoperative care is provided under the auspices of military medicine.