An outbreak of acute hepatitis — an inflammation of the liver — in children has killed at least four and required liver transplants in more than a dozen others across the globe, according to the World Health Organization. While the cause is undetermined, investigators are studying a family of pathogens, called adenoviruses, that cause a range of illnesses including the common cold. Read the full story in The Washington Post here.
Having an organ transplant can feel like a new lease on life!
You find that you can suddenly do more of the things that you enjoy. However, new recipients are sometimes overwhelmed with all the requirements of post-transplant living.
Read the full story on CareDx.com.
A renewed interest in intravenous ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C, could improve long-term success outcomes for patients undergoing solid-organ transplant.
Published June 11 in the journal Circulation, the study explores a mechanism for enhancing TET2 (TET methylcytosine dioxygenase 2) enzymatic activity with high dose injections of ascorbic acid. Read the full story in Medical Xpress.
SALT LAKE CITY — Socioeconomic disadvantage among hematopoietic stem cell transplant donors appeared associated with poorer outcomes among transplant recipients, according to study results.
The findings — presented at Tandem Meetings | Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR — indicate a biologic impact of socioeconomic status on hematopoietic cells that is transferrable from HSCT donor to recipient, researchers concluded. Read more in Healio.
The risk of major complications for people who donate a kidney via laparoscopic surgery is minimal. That is the conclusion of a 20-year Mayo Clinic study of more than 3,000 living kidney donors. Only 2.5% of patients in the study experienced major complications, and all recovered completely.
“The results of this study are extremely reassuring for individuals who are considering being living kidney donors. We found that this lifesaving surgery, when performed at experienced transplant centers, is extremely safe,” says Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Division of Transplant Surgery at Mayo Clinic’s William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration in Minnesota. Dr. Taner is a co-author of the study. Read more in Medical Xpress.
Solid organ transplant recipients display a variety of electrolyte abnormalities in the early months after transplant surgery that need to be monitored, according to investigators presenting at the National Kidney Foundation’s 2022 Spring Clinical Meetings being held in Boston, Massachusetts.
Investigators examined the electronic health records of 199 recipients treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York during 2019 to 2021. Hypomagnesemia increased significantly 3 months after transplant, affecting 68.6% of liver, 50.9% of kidney, and 41.7% of heart transplant recipients. Read the full article in Renal & Urology News.
Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may benefit considerably from supervised lifestyle therapies that increase physical activity and fitness. For a study, researchers conducted a randomized clinical study in 160 patients with stage 3–4 CKD to test the efficacy of a lifestyle intervention in improving cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise capacity over 36 months. Read more in Physician’s Weekly.
Organ donation and transplantation are saving more lives in the United States than ever before, thanks to concerted work by stakeholders from across the country: donor families, organ procurement organizations, transplant centers, the Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN), the hundreds of volunteers who serve on OPTN committees, and others.
I have witnessed this remarkable achievement firsthand as a transplant physician caring for people with kidney disease. I also witness the plight of people with end-stage kidney disease who languish on transplant wait lists, a situation that is compounded by the kinds of disparities seen in other aspects of health care. Read more in STAT News.
Unvaccinated heart transplant recipients experienced greater risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection, related hospitalization and death compared with those who were vaccinated, according to a brief report published in JAMA Cardiology. Read more in Healio.
You probably have heard of the enormous benefits of a living vs. deceased-donor kidney for the recipient, but did you know that there are real benefits to the donor, too?
For family members or couples, they are nothing short of dramatic:
1. Helping a loved one is an amazing feeling: To see a loved one who’s been pale, weak, and often listless for many months or years gradually become their old self again is pretty powerful. Before I donated my kidney to my son in 2006, his 20 months on dialysis had left him lethargic and depressed; seeing his smile when he came into my hospital room the day after the transplant was unforgettable. Read the full story from National Kidney Foundation here.