January 31, 2017
Dr. William Lakey performs a kidney transplant in the early days of the renal transplant program at the University of Alberta Hospital
Story by Sharman Hnatiuk
EDMONTON — When the late Dr. William Lakey performed the first kidney transplant in Alberta on January 15, 1967, at the University of Alberta Hospital (UAH), organ transplantation was still in its infancy.
The patient only lived for two months, but that surgery paved the way for the more than 2,800 kidney transplants that have been performed at the UAH since then.
Today, 95 per cent of patients in the local renal transplant program survive the first five years. Half of the successful kidney transplants from a living donor are still functioning at 20 years and, of those from deceased donors, half are still functioning at 10 years.
Dr. Rex Boake acknowledges how difficult it was for patients in the early years of the program.
“We didn’t have access to the antirejection medication or the tissue-typing and blood-matching for donors and recipients that there is today,” says Dr. Boake, who retired from practice in 1996 after 27 years as a surgeon with the renal transplant program.
“For patients in renal failure, life on dialysis wasn’t great. Transplants could offer a better chance at life — but only if the patient’s body didn’t reject the organ. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, living two to five years after a renal transplant was considered a success.”
Freda Ainley had been on dialysis for two years in Edmonton when, on April 12, 1972, she received the call that a deceased donor kidney with 49-per-cent compatibility was available.
“I wasn’t doing well on dialysis but I was scared. I hadn’t seen anyone with a successful transplant,” says Ainley. “My 12 year-old daughter, Gillian, looked at me and said, ‘You’re not like anyone else. Just because it didn’t work for them, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.’”
Dr. Boake performed her transplant two days later.
This April, Ainley will celebrate the 45th anniversary of her kidney transplant, making her transplanted kidney one of the longest-surviving donor kidneys in the world.
Dr. Ron Moore, surgical director of the Edmonton renal transplant program, says the need for donor kidneys outstrips the available supply.
“We currently have 170 patients in our program awaiting a kidney transplant,” he says. “Instead of leading healthy, active lives, these patients wait up to five years, depending on their blood type, for a suitable donor.
“To meet the challenge of the organ shortage, we have expanded the types and age of the kidneys we use for transplant and are exploring ways to recondition donated organs.”
Last year, the UAH renal transplant program performed 96 adult and pediatric kidney transplants, 31 of which were from living donors.
Albertans who wish to donate are encouraged to register their intent online through the Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Registry; and, most importantly, to discuss their wishes with their family.
