Kidney transplants on the increase at Addenbrooke’s

In the last financial year (2013 – 2014) clinicians transplanted 180 kidney patients, significantly reducing the local waiting list from 272 in 2008-2009 to 160.

CUH Addenbrooke’s has a world leading record for transplant operations. It conducted the first liver transplant outside the USA in 1968, the world’s first combined heart, lung and liver transplant with Papworth NHS Trust in 1986 and the first small bowel transplant in the UK in 1993. The unit is currently one of the leading kidney and pancreatic transplant units in the UK and the best in the world for small bowel and multivisceral transplants. It also has the one of the best one year patient survival rates following a liver transplant in the UK, the current figure being almost 95%.

Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Paul Gibbs, said “We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of kidney failure patients we’ve been able to transplant, year on year, for the past seven years. It’s a great achievement, and mainly down to new and creative ways of finding donors. A significant part of this increase is due to the generosity of relatives and friends donating kidneys as live donors.”

One of the patients who has benefitted is 24 year old Matthew Skidmore from Lowestoft. Having suffered from a rare condition called Cystinosis, his kidneys had deteriorated and his eyesight was suffering. He’d already received a kidney from a deceased donor but recently underwent another transplant operation using a kidney from an anonymous altruistic donor – someone who gives an organ because they want to help society in general rather than a family member or close friend. 

Matthew said “When I heard someone was willing to give their kidney even though they didn’t know me I thought it was an amazing thing to do. It definitely meant I got treatment a lot more quickly than I would have done – I was only waiting for four months, but without this donor, it would have been a lot longer. Without a doubt it’s a brilliant thing for people to do because it saves lives – I’ve been trying to persuade all my mates to give up one of their kidneys too!”

Matthew knows only that his donor comes from Scotland. The donation is dealt with anonymously, but he has been able to send a letter of thanks through the managing agencies. 

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For further information, please contact: louise.gosling@addenbrookes.nhs.uk tel: 01223 586 730. Communications Department, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QQ
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