Organ Transplant Surgery and Support Throughout the Carolinas
Atrium Health Transplant Center, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center, is one of the busiest transplant centers in North Carolina, performing nearly 200 organ transplants every year. It’s one of just six in the US with its own hospital-based organ procurement program, which has resulted in shorter average wait times for organs for our patients.
Our organ-specific teams of surgeons provide transplant surgery and treatment for patients with end-stage kidney, pancreas, liver and heart disease.
The transplant center is certified by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and is a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing in kidney, pancreas, liver and heart for adults and kidney, liver and heart for children.
Transplant Surgery Services
Specially trained surgeons and other healthcare professionals work together on organ-specific transplant surgery teams, meaning your transplant is handled by experts in the field.
Specialty Transplant Programs
Atrium Health’s transplant teams offer several services not available from other hospitals in the region.
Positive Cross-Match Kidney Transplants
The Transplant Center at Carolinas Medical Center offers services to the 30 percent of patients waiting for kidney transplants who have become sensitized (developed antibodies to foreign tissue). Sensitized patients are at far greater risk for organ rejection because their antibodies are more likely to harm an otherwise suitable kidney.
Carolinas Medical Center uses plasmapheresis, which removes harmful antibodies and replaces them with fresh frozen plasma. After this treatment, a medicine called immune globulin is given to help prevent the antibodies from coming back.
This process is significant because, in many cases, it makes transplantation available to patients who otherwise would have been considered untreatable. Currently, Carolinas Medical Center is one of only a few centers across the nation offering this potentially life-saving treatment.
Kidney Transplant in the HIV-Infected Population
Historically, it was believed that transplantation in the HIV-infected population was not advisable. The widespread thought was that anti-rejection drugs would lower the immune system in patients who were already compromised, causing the symptoms of the disease to become worse. Today, however, with the availability of highly improved HIV medications, patients are living longer and transplantation in the HIV-infected population is being revisited.
To qualify for a transplant, patients must meet the routine criteria for candidacy, have an undetectable viral load (the amount of HIV virus in your blood), and have CD4 counts greater than 200 for at least six months. In addition, patients must be evaluated by an infectious disease physician.
Living Donor Kidney Transplantation
A transplant is the most effective way to ensure long-term survival for a patient with kidney failure. For some patients, a transplant means the chance to spend more time with their families; for others, it may mean the opportunity to return to work, the chance to travel, or perhaps the ability to achieve a once-impossible dream.
Milt: A Grateful Heart. Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute
A rare and dangerous condition ravaged Milt’s heart and left him in need of a transplant. A new heart gave him a second chance – and a new outlook on life.
LifeShare Carolinas – Organ Recovery Network
LifeShare Carolinas is the organ recovery partner to Atrium Health. Both are federally designated members of the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network.
LifeShare Carolinas, a not-for-profit organization, facilitates transplants throughout 22 counties in southwestern North Carolina, serving as the link between patients who need transplants and the donors who make those transplants possible. LifeShare Carolinas works closely with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which maintains the national transplant database.
UNOS manages the nation's organ transplant system and ensures that its strict guidelines are met and enforced. For patients and donors, this means that all patients are given a fair chance to receive an organ transplant regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, financial or social status.
Learn more at LifeShare Carolinas.
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