Living Kidney Donation - Tuesday, Feb. 27

Because there are not enough cadaver kidneys, there is a huge need for living donors to donate a kidney. “Only about half the number of patients on the kidney waiting list will actually get a transplant,” said James Eason, M.D., medical director for the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute.

Doctors say your body adjusts to having one kidney and donors and recipients can live a normal, healthy life with one kidney. For more information about becoming a living donor, call the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute at 866-805-7710.

Methodist University Hospital is the first hospital in the Memphis area to offer functional imaging in a clinical setting with its brand new fully configured, state-of-the-art, high-definition magnetic resonance (HDMR) scanner. The Signa Excite 3.0T HD system from GE Healthcare also provides 3-D images as high-definition television.

Doctors stimulate the brain in several ways as they map out active areas in the brain. For instance, patients may be asked to listen to music and the part of the brain that is activated will light up in color, telling doctors this is an area they do not want to disturb. Patients may also be asked to hold a ball and squeeze it, move an arm or a leg, or put on a pair of goggles and follow an image with their eyes. Doctors map the active brain areas and can clearly see what segments of the brain they do not want to enter during surgery. This mapping gives a detailed analysis of critical areas of the brain providing individualized surgical planning to preserve these important parts of the brain. This ability to clearly map active areas of the brain has had a dramatic effect on how doctors perform surgery.

Physicians know the general areas of the brain where speech, memory, movement and other functions take place. However, the exact location can vary from patient to patient.

Functional imaging allows doctors to customize each patient's surgery, thus advancing patient care.