Health & Wellness
Issues concerning the well-being of the African American community , >
... File photo
In marly 1998 blacks represented 917 of the 1,432 North Carolinians awaiting a kidney.
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More black organ donors needed, doctors say
By BETTINA SEBASTIAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DURHAM - Three days a
week for the past seven years, all of
Veronica Herring's blood was
siphoned from her body, cleansed
in a fake kidney and pumped back
into her bloodstream.
Herring, 34, of Mebane had
been poked with needles so many
times that she wore a permanent
catheter in her chest so nurses
could hook the tubes directly. That
piuccuuic CVC11 WUIC 111111, UUt'lUIS
wanted to move the catheter to her
thigh.
For 31/2 years, Herring, whose
, kidneys failed after she was diag
nosed in 1992 with lupus, also
toted around a cell phone and
pager, hoping for the call that
would tell her doctors had found a
healthy kidney to transplant.
Often it seemed the call never
would come.
For Herring, it finally did. On
July 10 she got a new kidney. *
But for many blacks like Her
ring, the wait can be much logger.
In kidney transplants, a perfect
match is everything. Blood and
antigen types must match to
ensure the best chance for survival,
and race plays an important role in
matching donor to recipient. With
the right match, kidney recipients
stand a 90 percent chance of sur
vival, according to Duke Universi
ty Medical Center statistics.
Yet, in t-eoruary iyvo, niacKs
represented 917 of the 1,432 North
Carolinians awaiting a kidney 64
percent - while the state's popula
tion is only120 percent black.
Moreover, blacks are tradition
ally underrepresented among kid
ney doiffors The United Network
for Organ Sharing says that while
blacks make up 35 percent of the
people in the United States need
ing kidney transplants, only 11
percent of the kidney donors are
black.
That means there are far fewer
kidneys available with blood and
antigen types that match those of
blacks needing new kidneys.
"There need to be more black
donors," said Dr. Randal
Bollinger, chief of general surgery
and head of Duke's transplanta
tion program.
Sarah Springs, who is black
and the community affairs coordi
nator for the Carolina Organ Pro
curement Agency - one of three
such agencies in North Carolina -
said there are many reasons why
black people cannot or won't
donate organs, but their reluctance
can be traced to lack of informa
tion.
"African Americans are not
aware that we make up the majori
ty of the need for those kidneys."
she said.
"The reality is there's probably
not a whole lot of faith in medi
cine within the African American
community," said Dr. Duane
Davis, cardiothoracic surgeon and
lung transplant program coordina
tor at Duke.
Springs said some people fear
that by designating themselves as
donors, doctors will make less of
an effort to keep them,alive. But
she said doctors only can use
organs from people who are brain
dead with functioning organs.
After all measures to save a
person's life have been exhausted,
a neurologist examines the patient
twice - six hours apart - to deter
mine whether brain death has
occurred.
. "So it's absolutely wrong for
someone to say, 'Oh, he has a gun
shot wound to the head; he'll never
survive,"'said Dr. Robert Harland,
Duke's former director of abdomi
nal transplant. "That person may
not be brain dead, and even a neu
rologist couldn't make that deci
sion based on one exam.
"And by not actively treating
that patient, we are not jetting the
family decide whether or not the
patient should be an organ donor,"
Harland said.
Some blacks fear their organs
will go to rich white people rather
than black people, but of every 10
black people who get new organs,
nine" come from white donors,
UNOS said.
"A perfect match overrides
everything for kidneys," Bollinger
said. "A perfect match is crucial
for long-term outcome."
Moreover, families may specify
the organ recipient, so long as that
person is a match. Designating a
recipient can cut the waiting peri
od for an organ by up to eight
vears. *
Springs said she tries to get her
grassroots message across to
churchgoers about the need for
black donors, since religion plays
such a strong role in the black
community.
"If you ask in a black church
who knows somebody on dialysis,
every, time you'll see at least two or
three hands go up," said Springs.
Alice Hughley, assistant princi
pal at West Millbrook High
School, had just returned from a
meeting in 1997 on organ and tis
sue donation when she learned her
21 -year-old son, Carey Hughley
III, had been shot in the head. She
and her husband, Carey Hughley
II, arrived at their son's bedside to
learn he was brain-dead.
For seven hours the Hughleys
remained at their son's side, saying
goodbye.
"1 knew that the agency would
come in and ask us about dona
tion. but it doesn't make it any eas
ier," Hughley said.
Their daughter Alicia said she
knew her brother wanted to be a
donor, so the family respected his
wishes.
But what helped them decide
was knowing a woman at their
church who <needed a kidney.
Carey's kidney turned out to be a
perfect match.
"Nobody rushed us to do any
thing," Alice Hughley said. "But
when we decided within ourselves
that he would die, we made the
decision ourselves."
Springs said even though fami
lies must decide fairly quickly
whether to donate organs, organ
procurement agencies try to
respect families' feelings.
"We care about the family, even
if it means crying with them, giv
ing them time, getting meals or just
being there. Even if they don't
donate," said Springs.
"Donation doesn't take away
the tears, but it gives the family an
opportunity, an alternative to do
something good for someone else,"
she said.
Alice Hughley said while
donating Carey's kidney enabled
the family to do something posi
tive, it didn't take away the pain.
"When you've lost a child, your
life has been changed forever," she
said.
New prostate
treatment unveiled
A ' ,
By LINDA A JOHNSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ? ? ? ' - : ?*' ' ' ' ? ? ?
TRENTON, VJr - A ' sew Jersey urologist has developed a
new and easier procedure for treating enlarged prostates that has
shown promise in clinical trials.
Doctors at a dozen medical centers have begun testing the pro
cedure. which is cheaper and less painful than current techniques
and doesn't require an overnight hospital stay.
Dr. Joseph V. DiTrolio's procedure, using a device he has
patented, could prove to be more effective than today's best treat
ments, according to Dr. Elroy Kursh, a urologist who researches
prostate treatments at the Cleveland Clinic, one of the study sites.
Kursh said he foresees the treatment eventually being per
formed in a doctor's office.
Prostate enlargement, which is not related to cancer, causes
bothersome symptoms requiring surgery, medication or other
treatment in one-fourth of men by age 80, and nearly all show
signs of the disorder by 85.
"Everybody's looking for an easy way to treat prostate
(enlargement) because so many men have it," said DiTrolio. a
researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New
Jersey. ?
Along with frequent urination and extra nighttime trips to the
bathroom, the disorder can cause difficulty emptying the bladder
as the swollen prostate gland constricts the flow of urine through
the urethra, around which the gland is wrapped.
Blocked flow of urine can damage kidneys and the bladder. In
rare cases, it can become fatal.
DiTrolio, an assistant professor of urology at UMDNJ's New
Jersey Medical School in Newark, said his procedure, using the
InjecTx device, can be done in about a half-hour with a local anes
thetic, although using a small amount of intravenous sedative is
preferable. An overnight hospital stay is not needed.
The device - a customized version of the cystoscope, which
urologists use to see inside the bladder - has a long sheafh with a
cylindrical lens and needle running through its center.
The needle is pushed just past the sheath's end high up in the
urethra where the prostate surrounds it. The needle tip then is
turned sideways and pushed through the urethra wall into the
adjacent prostate tissue at two to five points, depending on how
swollen the prostate is.
Small amounts of purified alcohol are injected at each point,
DiTrolio said. The alcohol passes freely into cells, which try to
dilute it by drawing in water from outside the cells.
"They take in so much water that they explode and they die,"
and the prostate shrinks as the body eliminates those cells, DiTro
lio said.
The alcohol kills the prostate cells so quickly there's no painful
See Treatment on C4
I lift children. If s that simple,
r Bo caring for them, and
doittg everything I can to keep
? Kern healthy is where
lian help families most."
I v-*
Aegi^-Westgate welcomes pediatrician Dr. Maroela Heinrich to the
pra^ooe. Dr. Heinrich brings her love of children and enthusiasm
for Ming people, and looks forward to meeting her new friends
and {Bents. Beyond her activities in pediatrics, Dr. Heinrich volun
teers time and skills for organizations including the Sunny Side
Clinic, a free clinic for underprivileged children. She is fluent
in English, Spanish and German, and easily communicates with
BMp^p|p*>ch>ldren and their families throughout the community.
"Ofte* parents feel a little overwhelmed when their child becomes
ndc/l'm here to take care of the children, but just as importantly
1 to help their parents know that things can get better."
jt)r. Maroela Heinrich and the whole Aegis-Westgate team.
Working together to give you our best.
Aegis Family Health Center-Westgate
3746 Vest Mill Road ' '
Westgate Executive Center
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
?v* Pediatrics
Mark A. Pashayan, MD
Marcela I. Heinrkh, MD
Susan Y. Hunsinger, MD
Rebecca Y. VJeinshilboum, DO
336-774-0710
Call to schedule an appointment
Visit our Web site at
www.ae9isfhc.com
Agis.
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