What is NASIT?

What is NASIT?

NASIT stands for National Adult Small Intestine Transplantation. NASIT is a national meeting where patients that are being considered for bowel transplantation are discussed. NASIT approval for transplantation is a Dept of Health (DoH) requirement for transplant funding.

Membership of NASIT is made up of representatives from:

• The adult small bowel transplant centres (Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge and The Churchill Hospital Oxford).
• The Intestinal Failure Units at St Mark’s Harrow and Hope Hospital Manchester.
• In addition representatives from the referring hospital are encouraged to attend.

NASIT meets every month to discuss patients’ suitability for transplantation. For transplantation to proceed the NASIT members need to be in agreement that this is the correct treatment option for that particular patient. The patient will be notified by their team once the decision regarding transplantation has been made. The NASIT meeting may offer other advice and treatment options that the group feel are more suitable for the patient either before considering transplantation, or instead of transplantation. If after an assessment visit, transplantation still seems the best option, your case will be discussed again at the NASIT forum and if all are in agreement, you will then be placed on the waiting list for the operation. This will involve being available at short notice in case organs become available. The length of time waiting depends on your size and blood group and other factors of suitability and may be very short in some cases as the waiting list is not very long. However, some patients can wait for many months for the right organs to become available.

During this time, you will need to be carefully followed up by the transplant centre to check that all remains well for the operation to go ahead.

It is likely that in the course of your illness you have experienced much time in hospital and can appreciate the difficulties and complexities of your particular case. As such, it is not an easy decision for the medical staff to decide what will be best for you and it may be necessary to get you back for further investigations to help them come to the best decision.

Because of this it can take weeks, possibly even a few months, for doctors to decide whether transplantation would be the best option for you.

We understand that this could potentially be a difficult time for you and we aim to keep you informed by seeing you regularly in our clinic and also through our transplant coordinators and specialist nurses.

It may be that transplant is not considered the most appropriate form of treatment for you at this particular time, in which case your care will be resumed by your referring hospital. We have close associations with the referring centres and should your circumstances change we would be able to review you promptly.

If it is decided that transplant is the best option for you then this will be discussed with you and if you decide to proceed you will be given an appointment to meet with the consultant surgeon who will explain the operation and get your written consent. You will then be put on the waiting list for transplantation. During the waiting period you will be reviewed regularly in our clinic and you can always contact our transplant coordinators on 01223 349461 if you have any concerns / queries.