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Post-Kidney Transplant MACE Predicts Worse Survival

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Recently reported study findings provide a detailed look at how a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) after kidney transplantation adversely affects survival and identify which patients are at elevated risk for MACE. Data also demonstrate that patients who receive a kidney transplant are at lower MACE risk compared with those who remain on dialysis.  

In a study of 30,325 KTRs in England published in Kidney International, a MACE occurred in 781 within the first year of transplantation surgery. Read more in Renal & Urology News.

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A Lifetime of Heart Care Leads to Transplant

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After Coping With Congenital Heart Disease Since Birth, Andrew Solis, 21, Spent Nearly 8 Months at Cedars-Sinai Waiting for His New Heart and Liver

Newswise — LOS ANGELES — (June 13, 2022) — While many 21-year-olds celebrate their coming of age in bars and nightclubs, Andrew Solis is celebrating freedom by finally going home—equipped with a new heart and liver—after nearly eight months at Cedars-Sinai. 

“Before my heart and liver transplant, I was stuck in the hospital, feeling weak, anxious and stressed,” said Solis, a Long Beach resident who was born with a heart condition. “Now, with my new organs, I feel great—like a new person. I feel really grateful and blessed for the wonderful team that has been behind me.” Read the full story in News Wise here.

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Is a Bioengineered Heart From Recipient Tissues the Answer to the Shortage of Donors in Heart Transplantation?

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With the increase in life expectancy worldwide, end-organ failure is becoming more prevalent. In addition, improving post-transplant outcomes has contributed to soaring demand for organs. Unfortunately, thousands have died waiting on the transplant list due to the critical shortage of organs. The success of bioengineered hearts may eventually lead to the production of limitless organs using the patient’s own cells that can be transplanted into them without the need for immunosuppressive medications. Despite being in its infancy, scientists are making tremendous strides in “growing” an artificial heart in the lab. We discuss these processes involved in bioengineering a human-compatible heart in this review. The components of a functional heart must be replicated in a bioengineered heart to make it viable. This review aims to discuss the advances that have already been made and the future challenges of bioengineering a human heart suitable for transplantation. Read the full article in Cureus.

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International Heart Rhythm Societies Set Out Recommendations on Genetic Testing for Cardiac Diseases

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NEW YORK – Four international associations focusing on heart rhythm disturbances have published a consensus statement regarding how to best use genetics to test for inherited cardiac diseases.

The 61-page document was authored by representatives of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a branch of the European Society of Cardiology; the Washington, D.C.-based Heart Rhythm Society; the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society; and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society. Read the complete story in GenomeWeb here.

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Mom listens to her late son’s heartbeat through his organ donor recipient

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The heartwarming moment mother Maria Clark got to listen to her son’s heart two years after a fatal car crash was captured on video by the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency.

Maria Clark lost her son, Nicholas Peters, in a fatal car accident nearly two years ago. He was 25. At the time, Clark knew immediately that she wanted to donate his organs. The Madisonville, Louisiana, resident said she also knew her son would have wanted the same. Unbeknown to her, the grateful donee who received her son’s heart lived less than three hours away from her. Jean Paul Marceaux, aged 14, received her son’s heart after spending a whole summer in the hospital fighting for his life. For the first time since the transplant took place, Clark had the opportunity to meet the young boy and listen to her son’s heart, Good Morning America reports. Read the full story from Upworthy.

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The Low-Sodium Diet for Heart Failure

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Tips to help you eat smart for your heart

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 6.2 million adults in this country are living with heart failure. This condition occurs when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood or oxygen to help other parts of your body.

While health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and obesity can increase your risk for heart failure, smoking, drinking heavily, not exercising and eating a diet heavy in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol can as well. Read more from the Cleveland Clinic.

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How Donation After Cardiac Death Heart Transplants Are Benefitting Care Centers

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A Massachusetts General Hospital investigator explains how the innovative DCD practice addresses both waitlist issues and transplant center’s capabilities.

A relatively new method of evaluating would-be donor hearts may revolutionize the capability of transplant centers helping patients in dire need while on the US waitlist.

At institutions including Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), it’s already making a difference in vital heart transplant resourcing and strategy. Read the full story in HCPLive.

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COVID-19 Vaccination Safe, Lowers Risk of Infection in Heart Transplant Recipients

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These findings suggest the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for patients with OHT.

New findings suggest patients with orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at greater risk of severe infection and death in comparison to immunocompetent individuals, making COVID-19 vaccination an important priority.

In fact, COVID-19 vaccination had associations with fewer symptomatic COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths and no heart transplant-specific adverse events.
Read the complete story in HCPLive here.

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Video therapy improves medication adherence for adolescent heart transplant recipients

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A digital medication adherence program with virtual video check-ins was associated with adolescent heart transplant recipients taking more of their medications as prescribed 6 months after the intervention, data from a pilot study show.

“Medication nonadherence is a significant problem which can lead to graft failure and patient mortality,” Dipankar Gupta, MBBS, DCH, MD, assistant professor of pediatric cardiology at the Congenital Heart Center at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, University of Florida, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.

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Selena S. Li, MD: The US Heart Allocation System and Transplant Bridge Devices

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The Massachusetts General Hospital investigator discusses how LVADs and mechanical circulatory supports have altered the national heart donor strategy.

A new assessment from a team at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) sought to interpret the effects of the current US heart donor allocation system on the use of mechanical circulatory supports (MCSs) as a transplant bridge.
Read the full story in HCPLive here.

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