Lehighton Man is LVH's 500th Transplant Recipient; Gets Kidney from Wife

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (Aug. 8, 2007) – The moment Dana Mertz learned that her husband's kidney function was deteriorating, she asked, "Would I be a suitable donor for him?" It was last October 6, and a urine test had revealed surprisingly that Edward Mertz's kidneys were only working at 11 percent of capacity.

Dana, 34, got her wish July 18 at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH). In simultaneous surgeries, one of her kidneys was removed through a small incision in her abdomen and transplanted into Ed. This made him the 500^th transplant patient at LVH, where the region's only kidney and pancreas transplant program started in 1991 (489 kidney patients, nine kidney-and- pancreas patients and two pancreas-alone patients).

Michael Moritz, M.D., chief of transplant services, and Pradip Chakrabarti, M.D., chief of pancreas transplants, performed the operations on the Mertzes.

"Despite the continuing improvements in outcomes of all types of transplants from better immunosuppressant medications, a living kidney donor continues to offer a better chance of success for the recipient than a kidney from a deceased donor," says Moritz. "Also, the laparoscopic donor operation offers a much quicker recovery than the more traditional operation, which was performed through a longer incision in the donor's side."

This surgery ended Ed's grueling, thrice-weekly dialysis treatments, which left him exhausted. "We're doing wonderfully," says Ed Mertz, 53, from his Lehighton home. He's been eating bananas and tomatoes and drinking milk, all of which were taboo while he was on dialysis. And he and Dana are looking forward to returning to their jobs, him at Horsehead Corporation in Palmerton, and her at Wal-Mart in Lehighton.

Ed Mertz blames diabetes and high blood pressure for his kidney failure, though he never thought either condition was bad enough to cause it. And, since his transplant, he says, his sugar and blood pressure levels have been fine.

Now he takes 10 anti-rejection pills a day to keep his kidney working, but feels "normal," even "pepped up" from his new organ.

A premier academic community hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network includes three hospital facilities – two in Allentown and one in Bethlehem, Pa. – and Lehigh Valley Health Services, providing home health, hospice, pharmaceutical and health management services. In 2007, US News & World Report named Lehigh Valley Hospital one of America's Best Hospitals for the twelfth straight year. LVHHN's advanced regional resources include a Level I Trauma Center with added pediatric qualifications, regional Burn Center as well as kidney and pancreas transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing. LVH is one of Pennsylvania's largest teaching hospitals and is a major teaching campus of Penn State's College of Medicine.

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