In the two years following the launch of the national liver allocation policy based on acuity circles, nearly 15,300 deceased donor liver-alone transplants were performed nationwide. This was an increase of 4.3 percent over the corresponding two-year period before implementation.
A key focus in monitoring the policy’s performance has been its effect on transplant volume in various geographic areas. Read the full story from UNOS.
You just found out you need an organ transplant. Whether it’s a heart, kidney, liver or lung, there are some key fundamentals to keep in mind as you navigate your transplant journey. Who better to share advice than those who have been through it? Read the full article on CareDx.com.
The use of the updated American Heart Association 2022 ambulatory BP monitoring guideline reclassified many adolescents from normotensive to hypertensive, researchers reported.
An analysis of the updated guidance was published in Hypertension.
Read the full story in Healio.
Patients with the rs2305480 variant of the GSDMB gene who had a pet dog as a baby did not have an increased risk for persistent wheeze or asthma, according to a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
This finding occurred despite the fact that the GSDMB missense variant (G allele) of rs2305480, which is located in the 17q12-21 locus, has been associated with asthma and asthma exacerbations.
Read more in Healio.
Cirrhosis of the liver. Cystic fibrosis. Coronary heart disease. These conditions can lead a patient to need a liver, lung or heart transplant operation, respectively, to survive. Unfortunately, if that patient lives in Nevada, they will have to move out of state in order to receive these types of transplantation services. Only one transplant center exists in Southern Nevada, University Medical Center (UMC), which only provides kidney transplantation and services. Read more in Las Vegas Weekly.
When Dr. Trine Engebretsen told the dean of her medical school that she was re-thinking her intention to become an emergency physician, he threw his hands in the air.
He’d been waiting for her to admit she was meant to be a transplant surgeon. Read the full story in Renew Houston.
ABO blood-type compatibility between organ donors and recipients is crucial for safe transplantations. Across the different ABO blood groups, longer wait-times for a kidney transplant are often experienced by patients who have type B blood because it is a less common ABO blood type, resulting in fewer donors. Type B blood type is more prevalent among Black and Asians individuals. Black African Americans are more likely to require kidney transplants than other groups, making the limited number of type B kidney donors a contributor to health inequities. Read more from News Medical Life Sciences.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle — before or after type 2 diabetes diagnosis — was associated with significantly lower risk for microvascular complications for people with the disease, according to study data.
Results were published in JAMA Network Open. Read the full story in Healio.
Randy Weber was one of the youngest Olympians back when he competed. Decades later, transplant pros, a friend who had served in the Marines and Randy’s teacher-brother all teamed up to save the skier’s life.
The Olympic ski jumper felt utterly calm as he stood on long skis at the top of a 300-foot-tower.
He breathed deeply, then took off, reaching 55 miles per hour as he flew through the air for several seconds over the length of a football field. Read the full story from UC Health.
US researchers have developed a mouse model that holds promise in identifying the best organ donor and showing early signs of transplant rejection.
Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, US, developed a humanised mouse model that shows great promise in identifying a patient’s best match for a living organ donor and also holds promise for recognising the earliest signs that the recipient’s immune system may start attacking that new organ. Read more in Drug Target Review.