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MELD Scoring for Liver Transplants in Need of Sex Adjustment, Study Says

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— Researchers find “pervasive sex differences” in sodium-adjusted MELD scoring system

Laboratory traits used in the calculation of sodium-adjusted model for end-stage liver disease (MELDNa) scores placed women at a distinct disadvantage, researchers reported.

In an electronic health record (EHR)-based study of more than 600,000 participants, all calculated laboratory values that make up the scoring system showed significant and “pervasive sex differences” between women and men, respectively (P<0.001 for all):
-Mean creatinine: 0.79 vs 0.99 mg/dL
-Bilirubin: 0.58 vs 0.76 mg/dL
-International normalized ratio of prothrombin rate: 1.20 vs 1.24
-Sodium: 139.03 vs 139.00 mEq/L
Read the full story in MedPage Today.

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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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Researchers recommend kidney transplant recipients continue getting COVID-19 vaccinations

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Although COVID-19 vaccines lower the risk of infection among kidney transplant recipients, breakthrough infections can occur, and researchers recommend patients continue to receive boosters when available.

“The SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have shown high clinical efficacy in preventing COVID-19 in the immunocompetent population,” Ivan Zahradka, MD, from the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in the Czech Republic, and colleagues wrote. They added, “However, data about the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are conflicting, and to what extent the two doses of an mRNA vaccine protect [kidney transplant recipients] KTRs from COVID-19 is unclear.” Read the full story in Healio.

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Tips on How to Handle PH and Transplant Baggage

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What is baggage? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s one of three things: suitcases, transportable equipment, or intangible things such as feelings and circumstances that get in the way. What kind of baggage do people living with pulmonary hypertension (PH) often take everywhere they go?

The answer: all of it!

In addition to emotional baggage, they have the burden of emergency preparedness and must have a suitcase packed and medical equipment and supplies ready for an unplanned trip to the hospital. Read the full story in Pulmonary Hypertension News.

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Racial disparities in death due to COVID-19 persist among lung transplant recipients in US

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Racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality persist in the U.S. among lung transplant recipients, according to data presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions.

“Our group was interested in trying to look at disparities and come up with ways of not only identifying but finding ways to intervene to decrease the disparities observed within the cardiac surgery population, which lung transplant recipients fall into,” Stanley B. Wolfe, MD, cardiac research fellow in surgery at the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio. “We know that the transplant population, whether it be lung, heart, kidney, etc., have very close follow-up compared to a standard patient, but they also are immunosuppressed, which increases your overall risk of getting severe COVID-19, as well as dying from COVID-19.” Read the full story in Healio.

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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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Greater coffee consumption correlates with lower risk for AKI, compared with no coffee

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Compared with individuals who never drink coffee, those who consume a large amount of coffee are at a lower risk for incident AKI, according to data published in Kidney International Reports.

“Habitual coffee consumption is associated with the prevention of chronic and degenerative diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and liver disease,” Kalie L. Tommerdahl, MD, of the department of pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Colorado, and colleagues wrote.  Read the complete story in Healio.

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Pediatric transplant patients may skip adult appointments

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Study finds more than one in four patients attend an average of less than one appointment per year

Young adults who received organ transplants as children may not be regularly attending their doctor appointments after leaving their pediatric providers. Missing these appointments is associated with longer and more frequent hospitalizations and poorer medication adherence, according to a new study. Read the full story in UGA Today.

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AI could save lives by identifying relapse risk in potential liver transplant patients

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Predicting the variables that could lead to damaging alcohol use in post-surgical cases may spur lifesaving interventions, a USC study finds.

A screening tool developed with artificial intelligence and trained on hundreds of hours of patient interviews could flag risks for relapse in liver transplant patients with alcohol use disorder — and prompt precise interventions, according to a new USC study.
Read the full story from USC News.

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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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