Media contact:<\/b> Stephanie Crayton, (919) 951-4758, scrayton@unch.unc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n Monday, March 14, 2011<\/p>\n CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2013 Today HHT Foundation International<\/a> announced that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/a> has been selected as the 12th HHT Center of Excellence in the United States.<\/p>\n Raj Kasthuri, MD<\/a>, assistant professor of hematology and oncology in the UNC School of Medicine<\/a>, is director of the new center for the treatment of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT)<\/a>. HHT, also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome<\/a>, is an inherited disorder of the blood vessels that can cause excessive bleeding. The most common symptom of HHT is bleeding from the nose, but HHT can also cause bleeding from the mouth, tongue, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, skin or other organs.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Kasthuri has organized a team of specialists at UNC who are knowledgeable in the treatment and care of HHT and have been treating HHT patients for several years. We are really excited about this new collaboration,\u201d said Marianne Clancy, executive director of HHT Foundation International.<\/p>\n HHT affects about 1 of every 5,000 people in the U.S. The number of people with HHT in the U.S. is estimated at 70,000. About 1,700 people in North Carolina have the disorder, which sometimes affects multiple members of the same family, Dr. Kasthuri said. It is estimated that there are about 2,800 additional people with HHT in the surrounding states of South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. None of those states have an HHT Center of Excellence.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very excited to lead this multidisciplinary endeavor and look forward to providing care for a population that is underdiagnosed and under-resourced,\u201d Dr. Kasthuri said.<\/p>\n![\"Raj](\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/htcenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/711\/2018\/05\/Kasthuri.jpg\" "\\"Raj")
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