Maine Medical Center received confirmation patient treated at the hospital has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Date: Nov. 11, 2016 Contact: Clay Holtzman
Communications & Public Affairs media@mmc.org
Maine Medical
Center receives confirmation that patient had rare brain disorder
PORTLAND, Maine -
Maine Medical Center today received confirmation that a patient treated at the
hospital has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain disorder caused by
an infectious type of protein.
Hospital officials
learned earlier in the week that a patient appeared to have the rare condition
based on an initial biopsy result. On Friday the National Prion Disease
Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western University provided confirmation
of the diagnosis.
Transmission of
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in a hospital setting is extremely rare, with no
confirmed incidence of such transmission in more than 20 years. Nevertheless
the hospital took extraordinary steps to assure patient safety. Approximately
150 elective surgery cases were rescheduled Wednesday and Thursday while the
hospital decontaminated surgical equipment and facilities in accordance with
guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"We thought
it important to go above and beyond to assure the safety of our patients,"
said Joel Botler, M.D., chief medical officer at MMC. While the hospital does
track surgical equipment used in each case, the decision was made not to rely
on tracking and instead make sure that any piece of equipment that could potentially
be affected was treated. "Now that we know this case is confirmed, we can
see that our
response was 100
percent appropriate and that patients should feel confident in the safety of
their care at Maine Medical Center," added Botler.
The hospital is now
looking at the types of procedures performed and instruments used to determine
which patients should be specifically contacted because they were treated prior
to the initial pathology report showing a patient had Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease.
"We are in
the process of reaching out to the small number of patients who we think should
be notified based on the details of their specific case," said Botler.
"Our staff members have been fielding calls from patients who have
legitimate concerns and questions about their care. Let me be clear, only a
small number of patients who have had surgery at MMC have been exposed to any
degree of risk, and that risk is exceedingly low approaching zero."
Botler said more
than 100 MMC employees worked around the clock to decontaminate equipment. In
the meantime, other Maine hospitals loaned equipment so that MMC could perform
the emergency surgeries that are required of the state's largest medical center
and Maine's only Level 1 Trauma Center.
"We want to thank our amazing team here at Maine Medical
Center," said Botler. "This is an especially rare circumstance in
medicine, and the men and women here responded with the utmost professionalism
and dedication to make sure we continue to provide our patients with excellent,
safe patient-centered care. We want to also thank our patients for their
understanding and apologize for any inconvenience and concern this has caused
them and their families. Finally we’d like to thank all of our colleagues in
the statewide healthcare community who have come to our assistance."
About Maine
Medical Center Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as the number-one ranked
hospital in Maine by U.S. News and World Report for 2016-2017, is a complete
health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state,
as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1864, MMC is the state’s
largest medical center, licensed for 637 beds and employing nearly 6,500
people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires
an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational
program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit
institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity
care delivered in Maine. MMC is a member of the MaineHealth system, a growing
family of health care services in northern New England. For more information,
visit www.mmc.org.
Wednesday, November 09,
2016
Maine Medical Center
postpones elective surgeries over suspected case of prion disease
Friday, November 11,
2016
Human prion diseases:
surgical lessons learned from iatrogenic prion transmission
kind regards, terry
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. at
9:40 PM
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