By Linda Satter
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), which is the only hospital in the state performing adult liver and kidney transplants, now offers pancreas transplants.
Raj Patel, M.D., surgical director of pancreas transplantation at UAMS, successfully completed the first combined kidney-pancreas transplant in Arkansas on Sept. 1.
The 27-year-old patient was an insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetic on dialysis for kidney failure who had been fighting for survival since her early teens. She is now free of both insulin and dialysis and has returned to her normal activities, Patel said.
Arkansans in need of pancreas transplants previously had to leave Arkansas to have the procedure and to receive follow-up care, with the closest transplant centers located in Memphis, Dallas or St. Louis. Now, UAMS surgeons perform the transplant on the main Little Rock campus and provide preliminary and follow-up care in Little Rock and at a growing network of satellite clinics in Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Texarkana, Pine Bluff, Fort Smith and Helena-West Helena.
