A life-saving treatment, solid organ transplantation (SOT) has transformed the survival and quality of life of patients with end-organ dysfunction. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the practice of deceased and living donations worldwide by various resource shifting, including healthcare personnel and equipment such as ventilators and bed space. Read the full abstract in Nature.
It has been almost 3 years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has changed since then, yet still this virus and its variants pose a threat.
In particular, patients treated with dialysis and those living with a kidney transplant must remain diligent to avoid contracting the virus. Read the full story in Healio.
Today, as with every third Thursday of November, the U.S. is celebrating National Rural Health Day, honoring the commitment of the health providers who steward the health of the one in five Americans who live in rural communities. At the same time, this occasion should remind us that over the past nearly 3 years, these hard-working professionals have been caring for rural communities in increasingly diminished health. Once a haven from cities devastated in the first months of the pandemic, rural areas have outpaced urban areas in COVID-19 mortality rates. And as the earlier surges of the pandemic recede, a new concern is emerging: a mismatch between the burden of long COVID in rural communities and the resources available to address this complex public health challenge. Read the full article in MedPage Today.
Purpose: Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are at an increased risk of severe disease and death caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. There is a paucity of information on the evolution of graft function among hospitalized KTRs who overcome the infection.
Methods: The study included adult KTRs at a single transplant institute who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and needed hospitalization between March 15, 2020, and January 15, 2021. We analyzed patient demographics, comorbid risk factors, and inpatient clinical courses for patients who were able to recover from the infection. Kidney function was analyzed pre-infection, during initial hospitalization, and up to 12 months post-infection. Read the full study in Cureus.
Investigators have found evidence of reduced T cell immunity during COVID-19 illness followed by T cell recovery in kidney transplant recipients. Insufficient immunity appears to occur despite initial reduction of antirejection medications in these patients.
Most centers have empirically reduced anti-rejection immunosuppression in kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 due to concerns that immunosuppressant use would hinder anti-COVID-19 immunity, Madhav C. Menon, MBBS, of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues explained in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Read the full story in Reanl & Urology News.
Is a strong reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine a sign of a more robust immune response that ultimately brings better protection against infection, hospitalization, and death?
Many are asking that question as they roll up their sleeves for yet another booster.
Science doesn’t have a definitive answer, as the literature is generally mixed — although two papers in the JAMA network of journals suggest that experiencing more side effects does correlate with higher levels of anti-spike antibodies. Read more in MedPage Today.
Donor hearts from people with COVID-19 may be just as safe as those from people without, finds a short-term analysis of the first such transplants done in the United States.
“These findings suggest that we may be able to be more aggressive about accepting donors that are positive for COVID-19 when patients are in dire need of an organ for heart transplantation,” study researcher Samuel T. Kim said in a news release. Kim is a third-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Read more from American Heart Association News.
Adults with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease using the nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist finerenone have lower risks for pneumonia and COVID-19, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open. Read more in Healio.
Investigators have found evidence of reduced T cell immunity during COVID-19 illness followed by T cell recovery in kidney transplant recipients. Insufficient immunity appears to occur despite initial reduction of antirejection medications in these patients.
Most centers have empirically reduced anti-rejection immunosuppression in kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 due to concerns that immunosuppressant use would hinder anti-COVID-19 immunity, Madhav C. Menon, MBBS, of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues explained in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Read more in Renal & Urology News.
October 19, 2022 – Sue Ford
When Cory Yager was hospitalized with a severe case of Covid last year, he promised himself he would not give up. His care team had no intentions of giving up, either.
The 43-year-old father from Lewis County, north of Syracuse in the Adirondacks, spent nearly 80 days at Albany Medical Center, kept alive by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), prior to receiving a double lung transplant. Read the story from Albany MED Health System.