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Distance to Transplant Center Affects Follow-Up Care in Pediatric Transplant Recipients

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By Abigail Brooks, MA

Findings presented at ASN Kidney Week 2023 highlighted an association between distance to the transplant center and increased clinic cancellations.

Transportation insecurity may pose a significant barrier to care and contribute to worse health outcomes and post-transplant follow-up care in pediatric transplant recipients, according to findings from a retrospective cohort study.

Presented at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2023, results showed greater distance to the transplant center was associated with more clinic cancellations, which investigators pointed out could cause delayed care resulting in negative effects on transplant health.1 Read the complete article in HCP Live.

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Could kidney transplant patients be spared a lifetime of immunosuppressants?

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By Annalisa Merelli

Kidney transplants are the most common organ transplant procedure in the U.S., with 25,000 taking place in 2022. But for patients who receive new kidneys, the transplant is often followed by severe lifelong challenges, many of which are linked to the immunosuppression drug regimen required after surgery to ensure the body does not reject the new organ. These treatments have side effects and toxicities that impact patients’ long-term health, and even survival, leading to a transplant failure rate of 30-50% at the 10-year mark. Read the full article in STAT.

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What’s the latest to know about COVID, flu vaccines as respiratory virus season begins?

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Vaccines lower the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death.

By Mary Kekatos


As the United States heads into the cold-weather months, respiratory virus season has also arrived, with cases of influenza and COVID-19 likely to increase.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends that everyone 6 months and older stay up-to-date and get a flu vaccine and a COVID vaccine, and that it’s safe to get both at the same time. Read the full article in ABC News.

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Madison bagpiper playing again after double lung transplant

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By Abigail Leavins

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A Madison man can pick up his bagpipes again thanks to a new set of lungs.

Four years ago, Dave Furumoto learned he suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Upon learning the news, the former UW professor fretted about whether he would ever play the traditional Scottish instrument ever again.

Dependent on oxygen tanks to survive, Furumoto made the decision in 2021, around the time of his retirement, to go ahead with a double lung transplant at UW Health. Now, with the surgery a couple of years in the rearview mirror, he is looking forward to renewing his passion for the bagpipes and enjoying traveling again. Check out the full story on WMTV NBC 15.

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Man given months to live becomes liver transplant pioneer

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By Ross Miklaszewicz

A charity worker who was given months to live has become the first patient in the world to receive a type of experimental liver transplant.

Adam Eisenberg, 58, from north London, was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

When put on palliative care, he said he was effectively “sent home to die”.
Read the full story in BBC News.

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Mortality, failure rates similar in donors with high vs. low kidney donor profile index

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By Shawn M. Carter

PHILADELPHIA — Kidneys from adults with a high kidney donor profile index may boost transplantation access, but a multidisciplinary method can bring positive results in groups with low deceased kidney donor transplant rates, a speaker said.

“We treat patients in a predominantly Black community in Brooklyn,” where there may be less access to required medical resources, Fausto Ricardo Cabezas, MD, of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in New York, told Healio of research he conducted with his team and that was presented at ASN Kidney Week. Read the full article in Healio.

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Daughter to mom who needed transplant at UI Health: ‘Don’t worry. I got your back’

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Raquel Ramirez shares her name with her daughter, so it was only fitting that one day her daughter would share a part of herself back with her mom.

When Ramirez got sick in 2021 and needed a liver transplant, her daughter, Raquel Regalado, who goes by Rocky, did not hesitate to be a living donor.

“They basically said, you’re in need of a transplant. We’re going to put you on the waiting list, but somebody can be a living donor,” Ramirez said. “She told me to my face: Don’t worry, Mom. I got your back.” Read the full story in UIC Today.

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Early kidney disease detection can cut down wait time for transplant

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By Kara Willis

HOUSTON (KIAH) — Over 37 million Americans are living with kidney disease. Once someone reaches the kidney failure stage, patients either go through dialysis treatment or wait for a transplant.

Sadly, there’s a shortage of kidney transplants and that is causing longer wait times for patients to be paired with a new kidney. Davita Horizon Dialysis says that nine in 10 people are unaware that they have kidney disease until they reach a more advanced stage or reach kidney failure. Check out the full story from CW 39 Houston.

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Kidney transplantation turns back the clock on renal aging

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By Tarun Sai Lomte

In a recent study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, researchers observe that kidney transplantation (KT) mitigates the effects of renal aging.

Treating chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an age-related disease and exhibits an accelerated aging phenotype. The reduced clearance of uremic toxins during CKD results in the accumulation of toxic solutes that contribute to endothelial dysfunction, chronic inflammatory burden, and increased oxidative stress. Read the full article in News Medical Life Sciences.

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