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Smaller liver transplant candidates wait up to 55 days longer than other recipients

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By Kate Burba
Liver transplant candidates with a small stature experienced longer waitlist times and had lower rates of transplant, with the smallest 25% of candidates most affected, according to study results in JAMA Surgery.

“As a liver transplant surgeon, I had noticed that small candidates on the waitlist seem to wait longer to get a liver transplant, even if they are at the top of the list,” Catherine E. Kling, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the division of transplant surgery and program director for the Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship at the University of Washington, told Healio. 
Read more in Healio.

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One kidney donor responsible for four transplant candidates receiving a new organ

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By Liam Connolly

Donors and recipients in eight-way kidney transplant meet for first time

(SACRAMENTO)

As we mark National Donate Life Month this April, UC Davis Transplant Center held a celebration and first-time meeting for donors and recipients who participated in an eight-way ‘chain’ kidney transplant at UC Davis Medical Center. Read more from UC Davis Health.

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When health plans are detrimental to diabetes care

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By Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES
By Donna Ryan, RN, RDN, MPH, CDCES, FADCES

Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, talks with Donna Ryan, RN, RDN, MPH, CDCES, FADCES, about changes to standard practices of health plans that could improve diabetes care and health of people with diabetes.

Weiner: How is the U.S. doing in terms of health care spending efficacy and equity for diabetes?

Ryan: The U.S. is a global leader in health care expenditures for diabetes, spending approximately $327 billion for direct and indirect costs. According to the American Diabetes Association, people with diabetes have 2.3 times the health care costs of persons without diabetes, with estimated average annual medical costs of approximately $17,000. Read the entire article on Healio.

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Penn State Health expert debunks six myths about organ donation

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Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
Right now, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. – nearly two times the population of Harrisburg – are waiting for organ transplants.

Doctors helped 42,887 of them last year, up 3.7% from 2021. Donated kidneys, hearts and livers helped them survive what was once incurable – old death sentences like heart failure, lung cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.

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An Alaska man receives a heart transplant after missing his first opportunity due to severe weather

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By Paradise Afshar and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN

More than three months after Patrick Holland’s first shot at getting a heart transplant was ruined by winter weather that upended his travel and prevented him from getting to the Washington state hospital in time, the Alaska man has been given a second chance.

The father of sevenis among the thousands of people in the Pacific Northwest whose flights were canceled or redirected in December as severe storms swept through the region.
Read the full story on CNN.

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System repairs donor lungs for transplantation

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by Matt Batcheldor

Only 20% of donor lungs are in sufficient condition for transplantation, which means that many people die every day while waiting on the transplant list. Discovering new ways to increase the supply of donor lungs is an urgent problem and is desperately needed to save lives of patients with chronic lung disease.

A Vanderbilt team has discovered that donor lungs rejected for transplant can be repaired using cross-circulation with a xenogeneic (swine) host. Read more from the VUMC Reporter.

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Chicago doctor donates kidney to patient

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Every day as a nephrologist at Northwestern Medicine, Aleksandra Gmurczyk, MD, sees patients who are suffering from kidney failure. Several years ago, she began to consider donating one of her own kidneys to someone in need of a transplant.

On Feb. 16, 2023, Dr. Gmurczyk kicked off a kidney paired donation, which occurs when patients have a willing kidney donor who is not a good match. Both are then paired with another patient and donor who are better matches. Watch the full story from Northwestern Medicine on YouTube here.

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Coordinated care can improve prescribing practices of recommended diabetes, CVD therapies

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By Katie Kalvaitis
NEW ORLEANS — Implementing a coordinated care intervention in U.S. cardiology clinics led to a fourfold increase in the prescription of three groups of guideline-recommended therapies in adults with type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic CVD.

“High-intensity statins, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, and SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists are all proven to improve outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes and ASCVD,” Neha J. Pagidipati, MD, MPH, associate professor in the division of cardiology at Duke University School of Medicine and member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, said during a late-breaking clinical trial presentation at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.
Read the full article in Healio.

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Actions to strengthen the U.S. organ donation and transplant system

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Driving system-wide improvement to better serve patients

April 6, 2023
More than 42,800 organ transplants were performed in the U.S. in 2022, an increase of nearly 1,500 over the previous year. The system’s success reflects its commitment to continuous improvement, which has driven 10 consecutive years of increases in the number of deceased-donor transplants performed. Thanks to the efforts of the national transplant network, 23 percent more deceased-donor transplants are performed today than five years ago. Read the full article from UNOS.

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First triple-organ transplant in Arizona history gives a new chance at life

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By Colton Krolak

PHOENIX — A Valley hospital recently made Arizona history, performing the first ever triple-organ transplant in the state.

Since Doyle Duke first picked up a bat and ball at 8-years old, all he wanted to do was play baseball. As an undersized pitcher, the doubters and the dream to play in the big leagues drove him to persevere, even being named “Pitcher of the Year” twice in high school. Read the full story from KTAR News 92.3FM.

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