Tampa General Hospital Performs More Than 500 Transplants in 2019, Setting a Hospital Record

585 transplants were performed at Tampa General Hospital in 2019, eclipsing the hospital’s previous total and placing it among the busiest organ transplant centers in the nation.

Tampa, FL (Jan. 6, 2020) – 585 organ transplants were performed at Tampa General Hospital in 2019, the largest number ever performed in the hospital’s history.

 Tampa General is now the 6th-busiest transplant center in the nation. The previous record for the number of transplants at the hospital, set in 2011, was 500.

The high number of transplants, paired with Tampa General’s successful outcomes, demonstrates how high-volume surgical centers provide the best and safest results for patients, said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General.

“When surgical teams perform these complex operations more often, their skills and teamwork improve, and patients benefit by receiving the best possible care,” Couris said. “We’re grateful that our transplant teams are able to provide world-class levels of care to our patients and families.”    

Performing more transplants means saving more lives, said Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, executive director of the Transplant Institute at Tampa General.

“Our mission is to improve, extend and save the lives of people with advanced organ disease,” Dhanireddy said. “So when we’re transplanting more organs, we are better meeting the needs of our community. We’re saving more lives.”

Transplants performed at Tampa General last year include a doctor who gave a kidney to the nurse who is her office manager and a patient whose heart transplant was performed by a surgeon who has been a family friend since he was a child.

The number of transplants performed at Tampa General in 2019 include:

• 358 kidney transplants, including 91 kidney transplants from living donors
• 145 liver transplants
• 37 heart transplants
• 35 lung transplants
• 10 kidney-pancreas transplants

In 2018, Tampa General performed its 10,000^th transplant, becoming one of about two dozen transplant centers in the U.S. to reach that milestone.

Tampa General’s record comes at a time when hospitals around the country are performing more transplants as well. More than 36,500 transplants were performed across the U.S. in 2018, an all-time high.

At Tampa General, Dhanireddy attributed the record number to several factors, including:

• Improved organ recovery techniques and technology. As an academic health system, Tampa General continues to innovate, using new technologies to maintain donor organs and other cutting-edge treatments. For example, because of new treatments for post-transplant patients, the hospital can now transplant some organs that couldn’t be recovered before.
• Increased willingness to serve as living donors. Transplants from living kidney donors continue to increase as more people become aware that these transplants are a safe option. That increase has also driven an increase in kidney “swaps” and exchanges involving more than one set of donors and recipients.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1007-bed non-profit academic medical center, delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. It is one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to an 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes 14 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Care and 15 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track.  As one of the largest hospitals in Florida, Tampa General Hospital is first in the state to open a command center in partnership with GE Healthcare. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.