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A small shift in temperature could have a big effect on how lung transplants are performed worldwide

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By Avis Favaro
TORONTO – Canadian transplant scientists say they may be able to help boost the number of lungs available for transplants, all with a simple tweak of temperature. 

They’ve been conducting studies that show that storing lungs at 10 C, warmer than the current standard of 4 C, is better for lungs harvested for transplant. They’ve also created a world-first cooler that they say stays at 10 C, boosting the shelf life of a donor’s lungs from six hours to up to 36 hours, and perhaps longer. Read more in CTV News.

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Adverse events after device implant tied to quality of life measures for end-stage HF

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By Regina Schaffer
Recent adverse events soon after receiving a left ventricular assist device, such as major organ dysfunction, have the largest effect on scores measuring health-related quality of life, according to a patient registry analysis.

In an analysis of more than 12,000 patients with end-stage HF who received an LVAD, researchers also found that patient characteristics and device implant strategies had small effects on health-related quality of life. Read more in Healio.

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Two Kidney Transplants, One Family, and a Whole Lot of Love

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By Lynn Nichols
When Hazel Cunanan, a home health nurse, got the call that her 15-year-old son, Markus, needed a kidney transplant, she broke down. It was simply too much. The family had already endured a kidney transplant for their eldest daughter, Danica.

“I sat with my patient and I cried and cried,” Hazel says. “But it ended up being much easier the second time around. We knew what to expect, we were stronger. And we already had a community at the hospital and at home to help us.”
Read the full story in Stanford Medicine Childrens Health Healthier, Happier Lives Blog.

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Researchers recommend limiting added sugar intake to 6 teaspoons daily

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By Emma Bascom
To prevent the adverse effects of added sugars, researchers recommend reducing intake to about 6 teaspoons per day and having less than one sugar-sweetened beverage every week.

Recent research has shown that higher intake of added sugars, also known as “free sugars,” was linked to a higher risk for CVD, and substituting them with non-free sugars was inversely associated with both total CVD and stroke incidence.
Read more in Healio.

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A Daughter’s Gift: UNC Hospitals Performs First Living Donor Liver Transplant in Twenty Years

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Meredith Stiehl received a partial-liver transplant from her daughter Kenan, the first-ever living donor procedure at UNC Hospitals to be conducted in twenty years. Chirag Desai, MD, FACS, led the care team that performed the procedure.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The bond between a mother and daughter is quite special. This is particularly true for Meredith Stiehl, 57, who recently received a liver transplant from her 26-year-old daughter, Kenan Stiehl, to treat life-threatening liver disease.
Read more from the UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine Newsroom.

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What Caused Visual Disturbance in Kidney Transplant Patient?

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— Genetic testing identified PAX2 gene variant

By Kate Kneisel
Why has this 72-year-old woman with a history of kidney disease developed visual changes that affect only her left eye?

When the patient presented for an eye exam, M. Tariq Bhatti, MD, and colleagues at Kaiser Permanente-Northern California in Roseville, learned that she had been living with kidney disease for much of her life. Read the full story in MedPage Today.

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As we examine organ-transplant system failures, let’s make living donations a key focus | Opinion

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By Tom Peters

Tom PetersMon, May 15, 2023 at 11:21 AM MDT·3 min read

Recent news about the failures in the U.S. organ transplant system has the nation talking about an important topic that I have spent much of my life working to improve.

As a transplant surgeon and advisor to the Kidney Transplant Collaborative (KTC), these discussions give me hope that much-needed change is coming. Read more in the Miami Herald.

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Kidney transplantation: How we can do better for patients in need

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By Beatrice Concepcion, MD

It has been almost 70 years since the first successful living donor kidney transplant between identical twin brothers was performed at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston.

Since then, tremendous advances have been made in the specialty, particularly in overcoming immunologic barriers to transplantation, including modern-day immunosuppression.
Read more in Healio.

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Experts Outline Strategies for Boosting Equity in Chronic Kidney Disease

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— Race-neutral calculations for kidney function, leveling the playing field on waiting lists

By Shannon Firth

Physicians and advocates explored ways to improve access to clinical trials, dialysis, and transplants for racial and ethnic minorities with chronic kidney disease during a webinaropens in a new tab or window hosted by U.S. News & World Report and sponsored by the American Kidney Fund (AKF).

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, people with chronic kidney disease, particularly those in kidney failure, could not isolate the way other people could because they needed to go to dialysis or other medical appointments, explained LaVarne Burton, president and CEO of the AKF.
Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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