Hospital General de La Raza, pioneer in Organ and Tissue Transplant Programs

The High Specialty Medical Unit Hospital General “Dr. Gaudencio González Garza” of the La Raza National Medical Center of the Mexican Institute of Social Security is a pioneer in heart, liver, kidney and cornea transplant programs aimed at the pediatric population and adult patients.

Having this diversity of programs allows for a greater possibility of treatment for patients whose only option for survival is a transplant, said Dr. Guillermo Careaga Reyna, general director of this High Specialty Medical Unit (UMAE).

He stressed that in this La Raza hospital "we have the capacity to carry out procedures in all these modalities, the important thing is to highlight the results of these programs, as well as the productivity we have, since we are one of the IMSS hospitals that carry out the highest number of transplants in the country.

He indicated that so far there are several success stories of patients who have come forward, which allows demonstrating the feasibility of this hospital.

"The generosity of our people is very valuable, it is important to generate that culture when unfortunately there is no other option to get ahead, organ donation can help save many lives and give a good number of patients a second chance to live" , he concluded.

For her part, Dr. Marlene Santos Caballero, transplant surgeon and head of the Division of Transplants and Diagnostic Auxiliaries, referred to the different active transplant programs that the hospital has, such as the adult heart program established in the unit since 1988, To date, 245 transplants of this vital organ have been performed.

Regarding the Renal Transplant Program, the specialist commented that this unit handles both living donors and cadaveric donors for adults and children. In 2018, the program for patients who have incompatibility in blood groups A, B and 0 began.

He stressed that since 1994 the UMAE has had the first high-tech "MR3 Pulsed Perfusion Machine" and unique in Latin America, a second was acquired in 2010 and the last one arrived in 2016. These allow donated kidneys to be kept out of the hospital. human body for more than 72 hours.

"We can have the organs on hold while the compatibility results of the candidate recipients are ready and thus transplant them without losing their functionality," he added.

Regarding the Liver Transplant Program, he said that initially the procedures were for adult patients, but living donor transplants are currently performed for girls and boys. In these cases, a segmental surgical resection is performed on the donor's liver (hepatectomy) and this fragment is placed in the pediatric patient.

“We have the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Program for pediatric patients with hematological diseases. The Cornea Transplant Program, one of the main programs in the country, which has been in first place in Mexico for 10 years, according to figures from the National Transplant Center (CENATRA)”, explained Santos Caballero.

He added that the General Hospital also has programs that do not exist in the country such as heart-kidney, "at the national level there is no other UMAE in the IMSS with this treatment option."

He said that it is important that the right holders know all the programs that the Institute works in the matter of transplants, "we do it for the well-being of people who have an organic deficiency", explained the specialist.

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