Duke Health Blog
Transplant
Read about people whose lives were changed with transplant surgery at Duke, and learn how Duke transplant specialists use new procedure and techniques to give people a second chance at life.
Can a New Device Make More Hearts Available for Transplant?
Michael Woods’ heart and kidney disease were slowly worsening as he waited for a heart and kidney transplant in early 2020. With limited hearts available, he c ...
North Carolina’s First Double Hand Transplant Recipient Grateful for Gift
In April 2017, Debra Kelly developed an invasive strep A infection that almost killed her and required her hands and legs to be amputated. Just 10 months after ...
Duke Performs North Carolina’s First Abdominal Wall Transplant
Johnathan Nauta, 37, had suffered with intestinal obstructions for most of his life. After more than 20 surgeries failed to fix the problem, he had run out of ...
Swift Path to Kidney Transplant, After a Decade of Kidney Disease
At age 27, Barb Lavalette learned she had a disease that, over time, could severely damage her kidney function. For more than a decade, she managed her kidney ...
Liver Transplant Saves Critically Ill Patient
Ray Thompson was a teenager when doctors first suspected something was wrong with his liver. He was an adult when he learned his condition was autoimmune hepat ...
Duke University Hospital Has Nation's Best Outcomes for Adult Liver Transplants
Duke University Hospital has the nation's best outcomes for adult liver transplants from deceased donors, according to data from 2016.
Duke Children's Hospital performs its first combined heart-and-kidney transplant (video)
Duke Children’s Hospital performed its first heart-plus-other-organ transplant, giving Shania Harris, 9, a new heart and kidney. Watch Shania's story.
Duke Nurse Donates Kidney to Husband, Also a Duke Nurse
Duke life flight nurse Nichole Diacumski carried out her most personal rescue mission when she donated a kidney to her husband, Jason, a fellow Duke nurse. The ...
Weight Loss Leads to Successful Liver Transplant, Better Health
At nearly 100 pounds overweight and suffering from severe liver disease, David Tedrow could not get the life-saving transplant he desperately needed until he l ...
Good Samaritans Give Kidneys to Two Strangers in Need
February marks 50 years since the first kidney transplant was performed at Duke and in North Carolina. Recently, a Good Samaritan started a chain reaction that ...
A Double Organ Transplant for Christmas
On March 8, 2012, 33-year-old Stephen “Mac” McKiernan woke up and knew he didn’t feel right. As he was dressing, he noticed how swollen his feet were. “I could ...
Duke Leads National Effort to Improve Lung Transplant Survival
A $12.95 million NIH grant awarded to Duke researcher Scott Palmer, MD, will fund a network of centers dedicated to improving patient survival following lung t ...