In addition, our mission includes teaching surgical residents and students at Parkland Health and Hospital Systems, Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Zale Lipshy University Hospital and Children's Medical Center. The third component of our mission is research focused on providing a greater understanding of transplant immunology, organ preservation and immunosuppression in order to improve patient care and outcomes. The division is successfully performing donor nephrectomies and kidney transplants jointly with the Children's Medical Transplant team. We've initiated a database to track outcomes for vascular access patients in an effort to provide better patient care and prevent complications. Our quarterly transplant newsletter, A New Life, is in its fourth year of publication.
Issues alternate between target audiences of healthcare professionals and patients.
The Southwestern Surgical Congress published our paper entitled Latex Anaphylaxis during Kidney-Pancreas Transplantation for publication at its annual meeting in 1999. We expect to begin a sponsored clinical study involving vascular grafts early next year. Our main, ongoing goal is to continue development of the division of surgical transplantation into a multi-organ transplant program. We intend to expand our transplant service to additional university affiliated hospitals. Laparoscopic donor nephrectomies are now offered as an option to our living donors.