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(Opinion) Missy Franklin: No one should die waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant

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As the world continues to battle with a staggering pandemic that understandably has captured nearly every aspect of medical news, millions of people fight battles as before with major illnesses like cancer and heart disease. Among the many Americans currently suffering from potentially fatal medical conditions are those waiting for kidney, liver, or other organ transplants.

My dad Dick and aunt (and godmother) Deb are two of them. My family suffers from Polycystic Kidney Disease or PKD, a genetic disorder that reduces kidney function. Nearly half of those with PKD have kidney failure by age 60, and my father and aunt are in end-stage renal failure now. They are on the transplant list awaiting new kidneys. Read more.

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Robotic kidney transplant opens door to patients with a higher BMI

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UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus (UCH) has become the nation’s fourth medical center – and the first west of the Mississippi – to perform a kidney transplant on a high-BMI patient using a surgical robot.

The surgery, performed by University of Colorado School of Medicine transplant surgeon Dr. Thomas Pshak on Nov. 17, was the culmination of two years of preparation, and it bodes well for those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to get kidney transplants at all.
Read more.

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Researchers use CareDx solutions to monitor first successful heart xenotransplantation

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CareDx Inc. announced its non-invasive organ transplant surveillance solutions were used to monitor postoperative graft health in the first successful heart xenotransplantation.

According to the press release, surgeons from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) are using versions of two Care-Dx surveillance solutions to monitor the genetically modified pig heart they transplanted into a patient on Jan. 7, 2022. Read more.

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Obesity may increase diabetic kidney disease risk, especially in women

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Adults with type 2 diabetes and a higher BMI may have an increased risk for diabetic kidney disease, according to study findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

In findings from a generalized summary Mendelian randomization using 56 BMI-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms instrument variables, increasing BMI was linked to an increased risk for diabetic nephropathy and a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, with the effects most pronounced among women. Read more.

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SLU Transplant Team Enrolls Participants in National Kidney Study

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Newswise — ST. LOUIS – African Americans have an increased risk of kidney failure, and new research shows that some of this risk is related to variations in a gene called apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1). It’s a risk Deryl Cunningham, a kidney transplant patient at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, knows all too well.

When Cunningham was diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease by a doctor in Terre Haute, Indiana, he assumed he had been handed a death sentence. Upon relocating to Edwardsville, Illinois, a local nephrologist mentioned rare instances that kidney disease can be reversed. From there, he began his research. Read more.

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Racial disparities in kidney transplantation access are highest among young adults

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In a retrospective study of adults initiating kidney failure treatment during 2011-2018, disparities in kidney transplantation by race were highest among patients age 22-44 years of age. Within this age group, kidney failure was treated by kidney transplantation among 10.9% of white patients but only 1.8% of Black and 4.4% of Hispanic patients.

In a retrospective study of adults initiating kidney failure treatment during 2011-2018, disparities in kidney transplantation by race were highest among patients age 22-44 years of age. Within this age group, kidney failure was treated by kidney transplantation among 10.9% of white patients but only 1.8% of Black and 4.4% of Hispanic patients. Read more.

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Sparing the Prod: Providing an alternative to endomyocardial biopsies with non-invasive surveillance after heart transplantation during COVID-19

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BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced access to endomyocardial biopsy (EMBx) rejection surveillance in heart transplant (HT) recipients. This is the first Canadian study to assess the role for non-invasive rejection surveillance in personalizing titration of immunosuppression (IS) and patient satisfaction post-HT.

METHODS: In this mixed methods prospective cohort study, adult HT recipients more than six months from HT had their routine EMBx replaced by non-invasive rejection surveillance with gene expression profiling (GEP) and donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA). Demographics, outcomes of non-invasive surveillance score, hospital admissions, patient satisfaction, and health status on Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) were collected and analyzed using t-tests and chi-squared tests. Thematic qualitative analysis was performed for open-ended responses. Read more.

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