One of the hallmarks of a premier Renal and Pancreas Transplant Center is its participation in cutting edge research. The Saint Barnabas Health Care System Renal and Pancreas Transplant Centers are the only kidney transplant program in New Jersey directly involved in the research and development of new drugs and protocols designed to increase graft survival, prevent and treat organ rejection and reduce or eliminate other complications.
According to Sadanand Palekar, M.D., Clinical Director of the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Center at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, the primary benefit of a research center to patients is access to new medications that have not yet reached the marketplace. "The newer drugs generally have fewer side effects and will be the mainstay of immunosuppression in the future," he says. "Our physicians and nurses are experienced with the latest drug protocols - many of which are very complex. They are trained in their use and know what potential problems to watch for." Another advantage Dr. Palekar sites is the more frequent monitoring of the overall conditions of patients participating in clinical trials.
Clinical studies conducted at the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Centers have been instrumental in securing FDA approval of a number of new drugs. In fact, due to its culturally diverse patient population, researchers in the Saint Barnabas Health Care System identified markedly positive effects of one immunosuppresive agent for African-American transplant recipients. Their conclusions were submitted to the American Society of Transplantation and wider research in now underway.
Equally important to conducting multiple drug trials, a premier transplant center is innovative in offering new transplant alternatives and procedures, says Gary Friedman, M.D., Clinical Director of the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. For example, he points out that the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Centers have been national that is fast becoming the procedure of choice in renal transplantation. Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery for living donors, as well as simultaneous pancreas-kidney and pancreas after kidney transplantation, are other trends introduced in this region by the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Centers.
"Centers that perform larger volumes of transplant have the best track records for successful transplantation," notes Dr. Friedman. "A quality research center will maintain a high level of follow-up that keeps each transplant candidate and recipient fully connected with the center throughout the process."
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