Blood typing is the first blood test that will determine if your blood is compatible with the potential donor’s blood. If the donor’s blood type works with your blood type, the donor will take the next blood test (tissue typing).
Kidney donors must have a compatible blood type with the recipient. The Rh factor (+ or -) of blood does not matter in a transplant. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.
Patients with antibody deficiencies demonstrated reduced immunogenicity following vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study published in Journal of Clinical Immunology.
These findings demonstrate the ongoing risk that the virus presents these patients, Adrian M. Shields, MBBS, MRCP, PhD, clinical lecturer at University of Birmingham Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy in the United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote.
Read more in Healio.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous studies have aimed to address the challenges faced by patients with kidney disease and their caregivers. These studies addressed areas of concern such as the high infection and mortality risk of patients on in-centre haemodialysis and transplant recipients. However, the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from these studies has in some instances been challenging, owing to barriers in aspects of usual care, data limitations and problematic methodological practices.
Read more in Nature here.
News stories abound of altruistic individuals donating their kidneys to strangers. These donations are based on the principle that a person should be willing to donate a kidney with no knowledge of the recipient’s identity or medical or personal circumstances, and with agreement that the outcome of the transplantation may not be known. Read more in Medscape.
Adolescent and young adult organ transplant recipients require supportive clinical care when transitioning to adult health care, according to data published in Pediatric Transplantation.
Further, successful retention in adult health care showed a stronger correlation to improved clinical outcomes compared with initial engagement. Read the full story in Healio.
— In small sample, donors gave infection to lung recipients, yet not to other organ recipients
Three U.S. lung transplant recipients contracted COVID-19 from their new organs, including one patient who died and two patients who transmitted the virus to others, researchers found.
From March 2020 to March 2021, nine SARS-CoV-2 infected donors donated organs to 19 recipients. Three individuals who received bilateral lungs acquired infections from the donors but the remaining 16 recipients of extra-pulmonary organs did not, reported Rebecca Free, MD, MPH, of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues.
Read more in MedPage Today.
Diet is one of many challenges that patients face post-transplant – the combination of requirements and restrictions can be difficult to navigate. To help, CareDx partnered with Molly Chanzis, a Registered Dietitian at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center specializing in medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling specifically for transplant patients.
We hosted a webinar with Molly focused on diet and nutrition post-transplant; this article has been adapted from Molly’s presentation. Read the full article on CareDx.com.
Pulmonary hypertension is associated with increased risk for graft dysfunction after kidney transplantation, investigators report.
Among 350 patients who received a single kidney transplant from 2010 to 2011 at Emory Transplant Center in Atlanta, Georgia, 117 (33%) had preoperative pulmonary hypertension based on echocardiography. Read the full story in Renal & Urology News.
In this episode of Hot Topics in Kidney Health, Dr. Katherine Tuttle, Executive Director for Research at Providence Health Care, and Jane DeMeis, kidney patient and advocate, discuss a promising new drug that was initially developed to help patients maintain blood sugar levels and are now being used as in the prevention and treatment of kidney disease.
Read the complete article and/or listen to the recording on this topic from National Kidney Foundation here.
An outbreak of acute hepatitis — an inflammation of the liver — in children has killed at least four and required liver transplants in more than a dozen others across the globe, according to the World Health Organization. While the cause is undetermined, investigators are studying a family of pathogens, called adenoviruses, that cause a range of illnesses including the common cold. Read the full story in The Washington Post here.