The University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio has suspended its living kidney transplant program following an incident the hospital would not detail this morning.
Larry Burns, UT's vice president of external affairs, said the program was voluntarily suspended and declined further comment.
Dr. Michael Rees, a transplant surgeon at UT, was not in his office today and could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this month, Dr. Rees said UT, in partnership with his Maumee-based Alliance for Paired Donation, had landed a four-year, $2 million federal grant.
Dr. Jeffrey Gold, chancellor and vice president for biosciences and health affairs at UTMC, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital, also declined to comment.
According to its Web site, the kidney transplant program has operated for nearly 40 years.
"Since the first kidney transplant operation was performed at The University of Toledo Medical Center in 1972, more than 1,700 kidney transplant operations have been performed, with an average patient survival rate of 98 percent and a graft survival rate of 94 percent," the Web site states.
A letter written Monday and signed "the Department of Renal Transplant" implied something had gone awry with a transplant.
