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Efforts underway to expand care to undocumented immigrants with kidney failure

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Although progress has been made, undocumented immigrants with kidney failure are underserved and in desperate need of care, according to a presenter at Innovations in Dialysis: Expediting Advances Symposium.Lilia Cervantes

“U.S. citizens have access to kidney replacement therapy because of the 1972 Medicare End-Stage Renal Disease Entitlement program, but for undocumented immigrants care varies,” Lilia Cervantes, MD, director of immigrant health, associate professor from the department of medicine at University of Colorado and member of Nephrology News & Issues Editorial Advisory Board, said. Read more in Healio.

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For chronic pain, AI-assisted therapy may be just as good as standard care

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Using artificial intelligence to facilitate cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain can provide outcomes that are as good as typical interventions while requiring less time with a therapist, according to researchers.

Evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic pain (CBT-CP) is a safe and effective alternative to opioid analgesics, John D. Piette, MSc, PhD, a professor at the University of Michigan, and colleagues wrote in the study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Read more in Healio.

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Multi-state models preferable to measure graft risk among kidney transplant recipients

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Compared with the Kaplan-Meier estimator, researchers found multi-state models provided a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of the life course and graft risk of older kidney transplant recipients.

“As a result of excellent graft survival in older patients and, inevitably, relatively high mortality, most older kidney recipients can expect to die with a functioning graft. Also noteworthy is the fact that there is an increased rate of early graft failure in elderly patients, at least in part due to higher use of expanded criteria kidneys in this age group,” Thomas Vanhove, MD, PhD, from Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues wrote. Read more in Healio.

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Impacting Policy on Dialysis, Drug Coverage, and Transplant Donation

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While Voices for Kidney Health advocates frequently hear about NKF legislative efforts around the Living Donor Protection Act, federal appropriations, and other bills, they may be less aware about the federal regulations and policies that directly affect the lives of people with kidney disease. These rules and regulations can have almost as big an impact on the lives of kidney patients as some of our major legislative initiatives.

For example, the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System and Quality Improvement Program govern much of the care that dialysis patients receive.
Read more from National Kidney Foundation.

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World’s first partial heart transplant completed in newborn with truncus arteriosus

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Duke Health announced successful completion of the world’s first partial heart transplant, using living arteries and valves from a donor heart that were fused onto the existing heart of a newborn.

The patient, Owen Monroe from Leland, North Carolina, was born with truncus arteriosus — a condition in which the left and right main coronary arteries fused together — as well as atrial regurgitation in one valve. The combination made it unlikely the patient would survive until full heart transplant; therefore, living tissue from the donor heart of another infant, not suitable for full transplant but with strong valves, was used for the novel procedure.
Read the full story in Healio.

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CareDx Celebrates 1 Million Organ Transplants and 100,000 Patient Milestone

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One out of Ten Patients Served by CareDx

Signals Broad Uptake of Company’s Non-Invasive Testing Services for Heart, Kidney, and Lung Transplant Patients

BRISBANE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDNA) – The Transplant Company™ focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value healthcare solutions for transplant patients and caregivers – today announced that it has served its 100,000th transplant patient, representing one out of ten patients transplanted in the U.S. This milestone demonstrates strong clinical adoption of molecular surveillance for transplant patients and showcases AlloMap® and AlloSure® as leading tools which are becoming firmly embedded in post-transplant patient care. Read the press release on CareDx.com.

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Managing and Preventing Diabetes After an Organ Transplant

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Complications of posttransplant diabetes mellitus can develop quickly, but appropriate management may prevent them.

People with end-stage kidney disease achieve better quality of life and survival rates with a kidney transplant than with dialysis, but if they develop posttransplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM), they are at high risk for rapidly developing cardiovascular disease or other complications. Maria Paula Martinez-Cantarin, MD, a nephrologist and researcher at Thomas Jefferson University, describes how physicians can manage PTDM and prevent complications. Read the full article from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

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