The on-again, off-again liver transplant program at Halifax's Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre is on again. The program, suspended after 2 surgeons resigned unexpectedly, will be revived because a review showed it is cheaper for the QE II to operate its own program than to transfer patients for the surgery.
“An extensive analysis revealed that there is significant [enough] demand for liver transplantation in Atlantic Canada to offer a viable program,” says Bob Smith, president and CEO of Capital Health, which oversees the QE II.
The review, conducted by administrators and clinicians, found that approximately $500 000 could be saved annually by performing liver transplants in Halifax instead of sending patients to London, Ont. The interprovincial billing rate for liver transplantation is $82 400.
The review team based its financial conclusions on an estimate of 25 liver transplants being performed annually. This is higher than the current rate but well below future estimates. The transplant program, which was launched in 1995, was responsible for a high of 29 liver transplants in 1998 and a low of 16 in 2001. However, research conducted as part of the review determined that the transplantation rate will jump significantly by 2008, when the QE II is expected to perform 45 of the procedures.
Dr. Philip Belitsky, the hospital's director of transplantation, says it will take time to recruit 2 new surgeons. “The reality is it may be a year or more before we can develop our team and offer the surgery .”
In the meantime, patients who require a liver transplant will continue to travel to London, where the London Health Sciences Centre has a “priority arrangement” with Atlantic Canada. Since May 2001, 7 patients from the area have had a liver transplant in London; 17 remain on a waiting list.
The pancreas-transplant program will also resume when the liver program restarts. Patients requiring a new pancreas are now sent to Toronto.
Heart, tissue and kidney transplants at the QE II have been unaffected by closure of those 2 programs. — Donalee Moulton, Halifax