The following is a summary of the “Assessing donor organ quality according to recipient characteristics in lung transplantation,” published in the February 2023 issue of Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery by Wadowski, et al.
While overall donor organ utilization remains low, there is a severe shortage of donor lungs concerning need. Organ quality is the most common reason for rejection, but selection criteria can vary. Read more in Physician’s Weekly.
By Michael Monostra
Adults who previously tested positive for COVID-19 have a higher risk for developing diabetes than those who did not test positive, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.
“The study highlights the importance of medical professionals being mindful of the possible long-term consequences of COVID-19,” Naveed Zafar Janjua, MBBS, MSc, DrPH, executive director of data and analytic services at British Columbia Center for Disease Control, Provincial Health Services Authority; and clinical professor in the school of population and public health at University of British Columbia, told Healio. Read more in Healio.
With deaths from alcohol-related disease on rise, some in the field are rethinking criteria that exclude patients from life-saving care
By Samantha Laine Perfas
During one of his first rotations as a medical student, John Messinger had a patient in his 40s with alcohol-related hepatitis. Because the patient had been treated for alcohol use disorder and relapsed, he was ineligible for a liver transplant. Messinger watched the patient deteriorate, knowing more could have been done to save his life. Read the full story in The Harvard Gazette.
By Rebecca L. Forand
The transition to electronic health records from traditional paper charting was touted as a way to increase efficiency, billing and cataloging; however, for some, it has made practice overly burdened with notes and information.
For psoriatic disease specialists specifically, some question if these electronic resources could be revamped to do more and increase not only efficiency, but patient care as a whole.
Read the full story in Healio.
By Bernard S. Little
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is the only Department of Defense military medical treatment facility (MTF) that performs kidney transplants, and the Organ Transplant Service at WRNMMC has been rated as one of the top transplant programs in the nation. According to data published by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), which supports the transplant community with analyses to better patient experiences and outcomes, WRNMMC’s Organ Transplant Service is ranked in the top tier of all U.S. transplant programs and has a 97 percent one-year patient and graft survival rate. Read more in the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).
Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Storing donor lungs for transplant at 10 degrees Celsius markedly increases the length of time the organ can live outside the body according to research led by a team of scientists at the Toronto Lung Transplant Program in the Ajmera Transplant Centre at the University Health Network (UHN).
The prospective multicenter, nonrandomized clinical trial study of 70 patients demonstrated that donor lungs remained healthy and viable for transplant up to four times longer compared to storage at the current standard of ice cooler preservation of around 4 degrees Celsius. Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.
By Ashleigh Hollowell
Seventeen people die per day awaiting organ transplants and top health systems and hospitals like Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic continue to seek ways to improve outcomes for the 104,000 patients on organ transplant waiting lists in the U.S.
Even though 2022 was the 12th consecutive year on record for deceased organ donations, one of the persistent challenges is the lack of viable donated organs, according to an April 5 news release from Mayo Clinic. However, experts say medical advances are working to solve challenges like this — one of which includes expanding the pool of transplant donations.
Read more in Becker’s Hospital Review.
A bill proposed in the U.S Senate would limit out-of-pocket insulin costs for Americans with diabetes who have commercial health insurance, according to a press release.
On April 20, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now (INSULIN) Act of 2023. Read the full story in Healio.
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, April 24, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Storing donor lungs at cool — but not near freezing — temperatures can markedly increase the length of time the organs can live outside the human body, a new study suggests.
Lungs stored at 50 degrees Fahrenheit remain healthy and viable for transplant up to four times longer than those stored at the current standard temperature of 39 degrees, according to new clinical trial results. Read more in U.S. News & World Report.
By Lynn Nichols
For five years, Diana Topete couldn’t freely eat. She rarely had the chance to enjoy her favorite foods—seafood, tacos, ice cream—with her family and friends. That’s because she didn’t have any intestines.
Instead of eating, Diana was fed intravenously. For 12 hours each day, she was hooked up to parenteral nutrition, or TPN, which delivers liquid nutrients through a central line or semipermanent IV. There’s no pleasure in it, but it kept her alive.
Read the full story in Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.