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University Health leads the nation in living donor kidney transplants for children

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University Health Transplant Institute marked an important annual milestone as it closed out 2022: it had performed more pediatric kidney transplants with organs from living donors than any other transplant program in the country.

The credit for much of that success goes to the Institute’s Champion for Life program, which helps patients needing organs reach potential donors. Patients identify a donor champion who supports them as they learn how to share their stories on social media and among networks of friends and relatives. Read more from University Health.

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Children with type 1 diabetes miss more school days than children without diabetes

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Children with type 1 diabetes missed nine more school days, on average, per year than children without the disease, according to new research published in Diabetes Care.

“Children living with diabetes and managing the condition achieve the same grades at age 16 as their peers without diabetes — and are equally as likely to progress to higher education,”Robert French, PhD, senior research fellow in the division of infection and immunity in the Diabetes Research Group at the School of Medicine at Cardiff University, U.K., said in a related press release. “This is quite remarkable, given that they miss more school sessions than those without the condition.”
Read more in Healio.

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The Gift of Life Is Multiplied Exponentially with Whole-Body Donation

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When Alva Capuano was discovered unconscious in her living room, her husband, Richard, and then paramedics did everything possible to get her heart beating again. But by the time it did, her brain had experienced irreversible damage. Her family accepted that Alva, 64, was gone. Their sorrow fueled a determination to fulfill her last wish: As the recipient of a donated pancreas and kidney, Alva had hoped to become an organ donor herself.
Read the article from NYU Langone Health NewsHub.

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Patient Voice Needed: Access to post-transplant testing may be impacted

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In November of 2022 MolDX (a program charged with developing CMS coverage policies for molecular diagnostic tests) and Noridian (the Medicare Administrative Contractor for CareDx and other labs located in California) held advisory meetings to review the clinical evidence for post-transplant diagnostics products. This includes AlloSure and AlloMap.

These meetings may inform coverage for molecular diagnostic testing for transplant patients and could impact access to these tests.

CareDx recognizes that the patient voice is key when making these decisions as they add personal stories that make the products’ impact more concrete and real.

This is where you come in! We need your help to share your AlloSure or AlloMap story, and support for continued access to post-transplant care options through the below form. While doing so in your own words is best, we created a template which we hope would be helpful and allows you to send your letter of support directly to the agencies responsible for the review.

Send your letter of support here.

Thank you for your advocacy for the transplant community.

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Stanford Medicine teams awarded $18 million to improve kidney transplant and gene-editing techniques

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The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has funded Stanford Medicine projects to improve kidney transplantation and advance treatment for a rare genetic disease in children.

January 10, 2023 – By Erin Digitale

Physician-scientists at Stanford Medicine have received about $18 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine for two projects to advance cutting-edge treatments for children: a clinical trial to allow kidney transplantation without the need for long-term immunosuppression, and a study of a gene-editing treatment for a rare disease that progressively damages the brain, heart and other organs. Read the full press release from the Stanford Medicine News Center here.

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Healthy Eating Linked to Lower Risk of Total Mortality

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— Lower risks of death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease noted

Adhering to healthy eating patterns was associated with lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality, a prospective cohort study with up to 36 years of follow-up showed.

Among 75,230 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 44,085 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, those who scored in the highest quintile for healthy eating patterns recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) had a 14% to 20% lower risk of total mortality versus those in the lowest quintile, reported Frank Hu, MD, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine opens in a new tab or window. Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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Diuretics in States of Volume Overload: An Interview

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In a recent Core Curriculum published in AJKD, James Novak and David Ellison discuss the pharmacology and therapeutic use of diuretics in states of volume overload and strategies to overcome diuretic resistance. AJKDBlog’s Interviews Editor, Timothy Yau @Maximal_Change sat down with Dr. Novak @JamesNovakNeph to discuss these topics.
Read the complete article in AJKDBlog here.

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Patient Voice Needed: Access to post-transplant testing may be impacted

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In November of 2022 MolDX (a program charged with developing CMS coverage policies for molecular diagnostic tests) and Noridian (the Medicare Administrative Contractor for CareDx and other labs located in California) held advisory meetings to review the clinical evidence for post-transplant diagnostics products. This includes AlloSure and AlloMap.

These meetings may inform coverage for molecular diagnostic testing for transplant patients and could impact access to these tests.

CareDx recognizes that the patient voice is key when making these decisions as they add personal stories that make the products’ impact more concrete and real.

This is where you come in! We need your help to share your AlloSure or AlloMap story, and support for continued access to post-transplant care options through the below form. While doing so in your own words is best, we created a template which we hope would be helpful and allows you to send your letter of support directly to the agencies responsible for the review.

Send your letter of support here.

Thank you for your advocacy for the transplant community.

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Medicare policy change could increase inequity in heart transplant access, study finds

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Patients seen at transplant centers had almost 80% higher odds to receive “bridge-to-transplant” designation

A change to Medicare policy surrounding heart transplant may lead to increased inequities in access to transplant for patients with heart failure, a Michigan Medicine study finds.

When a patient has severe heart failure, both a heart transplant and left ventricular assist device, which is implanted to assist the heart in improving blood circulation throughout the body, can be lifesaving. While LVADs continue to improve, heart transplant remains the gold standard therapy for end-stage heart failure.
Read more from University of Michigan Health.

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UNOS Advances Plan to Restructure Transplant Network Governance to Best Serve Patients

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Richmond, VA –News Direct– United Network for Organ Sharing

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the mission-driven non-profit that serves as the nation’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), has recommended a plan to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to restructure the two organizations’ respective boards of directors and establish the OPTN as an independent non-profit entity. The move is intended to increase autonomy and transparency to better serve the nation’s transplant patients. Read more in Yahoo.com.

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