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Impact of Race and Geographic Area of Residence on Outcomes After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant

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Front Oncol. 2022 Feb 25;12:801879. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.801879. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HCT) is a potential curative therapy for a variety of hematologic disorders. However, it requires highly specialized care that is only available at select centers across the country. Thus, minority populations are at risk for healthcare disparities in access to and outcomes of allo-HCT. Our study aimed to assess the impact of race and location of residence on outcomes of allo-HCT. Read more.

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Damaged Lungs Breathe Life into University of Kentucky COVID Research

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on the bottom of a sealed plastic container. It doesn’t look like much ­­– in fact, it doesn’t look like anything. But this little black lump has untold potential, full of secrets for the researchers at Kentucky Research Alliance for Lung Disease (K-RALD) to discover about the pandemic that has ravaged the world for more than two years.

This black lump is a sample of a lung from a COVID-19 patient. Specifically, it belonged to Dave Hoover, the first Kentuckian to receive a double lung transplant after contracting COVID-19. Hoover fell ill in February 2021, and after declining rapidly, he was transplanted two months later. He donated his lungs to researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, who added it to the K-RALD biobank of lung samples. Read more.

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Cost-Analysis Fuels Debate on Transplant Waitlists

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Policies that increase access to waiting lists for kidney transplant are likely to substantially increase administrative and medical costs without providing any benefit, said authors of a new study.

An examination of cost reports from all certified U.S. transplant hospitals from 2012 to 2017 indicated that Medicare reimbursements for transplant evaluation and waiting list management increased from $0.95 billion to $1.32 billion, according to researchers led by Xingxing Cheng, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine in California. Read more.

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Models predict acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery

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Models based on perioperative basic metabolic panel laboratory values performed well in predicting acute kidney injury at 72 hours and 14 days after cardiac surgery, researchers reported in JAMA.

The researchers created four models. The first was based on preoperative serum creatinine, the second on perioperative absolute change in serum creatinine, the third on the first two models combined and the fourth on the third model plus blood urea nitrogen, potassium, bicarbonate, sodium and albumin adjusted from time of surgery to blood draw.
Read more.

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Debunking myths about organ donation

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As of 2020 there were more than 183,000 people in the United States on the national organ transplant waiting list. While it can be difficult to think about donating your organs and tissue, becoming a donor can offer a precious second chance at life to many patients.

Unfortunately, various opinion polls show there is a significant gap between the number of people who support the idea of organ donation and the number of people who actually register. Read more.

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NASH linked to sharp increase in liver transplants in older patients

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As liver transplants significantly increase among older patients, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis has become the most common reason for the procedure in this population, according to a study published in Hepatology Communications.

“Another study from our team, which in publication in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, suggests that the proportion of elderly patients in need of liver transplantation in the U.S. is sharply increasing,” study author Zobair M. Younossi MD, MPH, president of Inova Medicine Services and professor and chairman of the department of medicine at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in Virginia, told Healio. Read more.

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