Article – Page 136

August 7, 2021August 16, 2022

Should You Recommend a COVID Booster to Patients?

“Certain at-risk groups need to consider extra protection now.”

What’s the Current Booster Landscape?

“Several studies offer preliminary evidence on the benefits of boosters, especially for certain populations. A recent French study in JAMA showed that about 50% of 159 kidney transplant patients with low or no measurable antibodies after two doses of an mRNA vaccine mounted a response with a third shot, and with no serious side effects or rejection episodes. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine also showed the benefits of a third dose in solid organ transplant patients. Pfizer data (that has not yet been peer reviewed) show antibody levels rise 11-fold in patients ages 65 to 75 after a booster.

Around the world, some countries and localities have gotten an early start on boosting. Boosters are being offered to patients over 60 years old in Israel. France is giving a booster dose to the severely immunocompromised 4 weeks after the second dose, and Hungary, Turkey, Thailand, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates are starting booster programs. The Mississippi Health Department is now recommending physicians consider boosters for the immunocompromised.”

Read more, here.

August 6, 2021August 16, 2022

Diabetes Patients on Dialysis See Better Sugar Control With Artificial Pancreas

“Adults with type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis benefitted from an artificial pancreas in a small, randomized crossover trial.

Patients using a fully automated closed loop system spent a longer amount of time in target glucose range versus those using standard insulin therapy (52.8% vs 37.7%, respectively, P<0.001), reported Charlotte Boughton, MD, PhD, of University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories in England, and colleagues.”

NKF Publishes Recommendations to Move Thousands of Patients from Dialysis to Transplant

“The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) releases today a position paper developed by 16 experts in nephrology and transplantation from 13 institutions that plots a path for research and innovation to address the most pressing barriers to kidney transplant access, organ availability, and long-term allograft survival in the United States.

This ambitious agenda seeks to direct research investment to optimize equity, efficiency, and patient-centered outcomes and maximize the benefits of transplantation in our country. Today, while nearly 100,000 people are on the waitlist for a kidney transplant, only 22,817 Americans received a kidney transplant in 2020.

“While kidney transplantation provides the best treatment option for kidney failure to thousands of patients each year, the goal of universal access to this treatment remains elusive,” said lead author Krista L. Lentine, MD, PhD, Saint Louis University Center for Abdominal Transplantation. “Addressing the priorities outlined in this research agenda has the potential to transform kidney patient care by expanding opportunities for safe living donation, improving waitlist access and transplant readiness, maximizing use of available deceased donor organs, and extending graft longevity.”

To assess the knowledge gaps amenable to more research, NKF convened an expert panel to develop a research agenda aimed at advancing access to kidney transplantation for all patients who could benefit, with attention to reducing/eliminating racial and ethnic disparities and supporting the goal of “one transplant for life” for organ recipients.”

Read full article, here.

July 30, 2021July 30, 2021

Call in the T-Cell Cavalry to Fight COVID in the Immunocompromised

“Last year was one of collective confinement. The majority of us shuttered our doors to visitors, worked from home, and ventured out sparingly in hopes of evading the grasp of COVID-19. Now in 2021, thanks to vaccination rollout, those who have been vaccinated are hopefully on the path to normalcy. But not everyone is so fortunate. For some, 2021 will bring more isolation and loneliness than ever before, which is hard to imagine. I’m talking about immunocompromised adults and children. While much of the rest of the populace clinks glasses, hugs loved ones, and joins parties, immunocompromised individuals do not have the security of an effective vaccine, and for their health and safety will maintain their distance and watch the social revelry from the sidelines.”

Liver Transplants: ‘Collateral Damage’ of Pandemic Drinking

“The number of alcoholic hepatitis patients getting liver transplant more than tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic, a retrospective study found.

A difference-in-difference analysis from June 2020 to February 2021 found that liver transplants for acute alcohol-associated hepatitis more than tripled (268.5% increase) compared with expected trends, while the rate of patients with acute alcohol-associated hepatitis added to the transplant waiting list more than quadrupled (325% increase), reported Therese Bittermann, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues.”

Read full article, here.

July 29, 2021August 16, 2022

SGLT2 Inhibitor Adds Years of Life to Patients With Heart Failure

“Patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) may increase their lifespan if they take the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (Farxiga) over the long term, a statistical modeling study showed.

Mean event-free survival was an estimated 8.3 years in a patient with HFrEF who started dapagliflozin at age 65. As a similar patient on standard therapy alone would only be expected to live free from heart failure events for another 6.2 years, this represented an event-free survival time gain of 2.1 years (P=0.002).”

Learn more, here.

July 29, 2021August 16, 2022

If You’ve Done This, Your Risk of COVID After Vaccination Is 82 Times Higher

“A study published July 23 in the Transplantation journal looked at COVID infections among transplant recipients. The researches analyzed data from more than 18,000 fully vaccinated people who had transplants for large organs from 17 transplant centers across the U.S. There were 151 breakthrough infections among the patients studied. According to the researchers, the risk of getting COVID after vaccination is 82 times higher for people who have had a transplant.

Out of the transplant breakthrough infections, 87 people were also hospitalized and 14 died. According to the study, this translates to a 485 times higher risk of breakthrough infection with associated hospitalization and death for transplant recipients. Per the CDC, most people who get breakthrough infections should not expect severe complications.

Study co-author Dorry Segev, MD, a transplant surgeon with Johns Hopkins University, told Science magazine that this is the first study to provide clinical evidence across multiple hospitals that transplant recipients are less protected by the vaccine.”

Read the full article, here.

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021

CDC Urges Vaccinated People To Mask Up Indoors In Places With High Virus Transmission

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance on wearing masks Tuesday. In a reversal of its earlier position, the agency is now recommending that some fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors if they live in areas with significant or high spread.

Currently, much of the country falls into that category — with the exception of the Northeast and parts of the Upper Midwest. The CDC provides this link if you want to see the area of spread in the county where you live.

“This was not a decision that was taken lightly,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, acknowledging that people are “tired and frustrated.”

But Walensky pointed to new data showing that while vaccinated people still account for a small amount of risk, in rare cases they can get infected and spread the virus to others.”

Here’s Who Made This Year’s List of Top Hospitals

— Top hospitals for 15 specialties, including cancer, cardiology, and orthopedics, also ranked

Cardiology & Heart Surgery

1. Cleveland Clinic

2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

3. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

4. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell

5. NYU Langone Hospitals, New York

6. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York

7. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

8. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, California

9. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles

10. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston

Read full article and see final list, here.

July 27, 2021August 16, 2022

Minnesota man’s kidney donation to a stranger helped national registry hit a milestone

“A Minnesota man who donated a kidney to save another person’s life also set a record in the process.

Ben Rengstrof is a high school teacher with a mission, which started with a lesson learned after his father received a lung transplant two years ago.

“A kidney donation really isn’t that invasive of a surgery,” said Rengstrof. “And so I decided I had to do it.”

With the kidney donation, Rengstrof became an altruistic donor. He didn’t know the person receiving his kidney. He also didn’t know that he was making history.”

Read full story, here.