Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction to Perform Phrenic Nerve Surgery
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(Shrewsbury, NJ- October 10, 2011) -- Don Bird, a 48-year-old handyman and married father of three from Geelong, Victoria, Australia, is preparing to journey to the United States for a groundbreaking procedure—phrenic nerve transplant—to be performed by Dr. Matthew Kaufman of The Institute for Advanced Reconstruction in New Jersey on November 4th. Phrenic nerve transplant is not available in Australia. Dr. Kaufman has pioneered the innovative procedure and is currently the only known surgeon in the country to perform it. 

Following a serious bout of pneumonia in August 2010, Don Bird suffered paralysis of his phrenic nerve, a large nerve in the chest that controls the diaphragm, which is integral to breathing. The condition also caused his right lung to deflate and other internal organs to shift, leaving him chronically short of breath and at great risk for recurring pneumonia, infection and inflammation. Without Dr. Kaufman’s surgical intervention, Bird’s lungs will become too scarred and future episodes of pneumonia will be untreatable.

Dr. Kaufman recently completed his 40th phrenic nerve surgery (on a 25-year-old woman from Ohio, his youngest patient to date). The procedure has an 85% success rate in reversing the paralysis. Kaufman feels...