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Factors ID’d for COVID-19 Infection Risk in Dialysis Patients

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“For individuals receiving in-center hemodialysis, the risk for having a positive test for infection or admission with suspected COVID-19 is associated with age, diabetes, local community COVID-19 rates, and dialysis unit size, according to a study published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Ben Caplin, MBChB, PhD, from University College London, and colleagues explored the role of variables such as community disease burden, dialysis unit attributes, and infection control strategies among patients receiving in-center hemodialysis between March 2 and May 31, 2020. Data were included for 5755 patients receiving dialysis in 51 units. Outcomes were defined as a positive test for infection or admission to the hospital with suspected COVID-19.”

Read more, here.

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FDA Approves Drug to Reduce Risk of Serious Kidney and Heart Complications in Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease Associated with Type 2 Diabetes

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“FDA has approved Kerendia (finerenone) tablets to reduce the risk of kidney function decline, kidney failure, cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attacks, and hospitalization for heart failure in adults with chronic kidney disease associated with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure in the United States. Chronic kidney disease occurs when the kidneys are damaged and cannot filter blood normally. Because of defective filtering, patients can have complications related to fluid, electrolytes (minerals required for many bodily processes), and waste build-up in the body. Chronic kidney disease sometimes can progress to kidney failure. Patients also are at high risk of heart disease.”

Read the full report by the FDA, here.

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Should Transplant Recipients Have Pets?

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Alex Harrison-Flaxman is a kidney transplant recipient who understands the rollercoaster of emotions that patients face after transplant.

“Being a transplant recipient is an absolute blessing, but it doesn’t come without its challenges,” says Harrison-Flaxman. “It’s a constant battle to stay vigilant and be on top of your care. But having my dog Bendel makes it a little more bearable when my anxiety is high, and the road ahead seems impossible.”

Up to 63% of transplant recipients experience depression or anxiety during the first several years post-transplant.1 This makes organ transplant recipients ideal candidates for owning pets that—through companionship—provide emotional support, ease anxiety, depression, and other phobias.

Read the full article, here.

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Organ donations held almost steady during the pandemic, as the U.S. transplant system scrambled to keep going

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“This is not a pandemic “silver lining” story.

This is a could-have-been-far-worse story about how the pandemic did not fuel a catastrophe in transplantation or worsen the persistent gap between people who need organs and the donations that supply them. But just as the pandemic is not over yet, neither is the potential danger of related ramifications for people whose organs may fail and need replacement.

Covid-19’s first surge last year flooded hospitals in the United States and nearly drowned those in the Northeast. They couldn’t find enough personal protective equipment for beleaguered workers, they didn’t yet have reliable testing for patients or staff, and they couldn’t know when the nightmare might end. Within that maelstrom, many transplants had to be put on hold: How do you perform life-saving operations when the supply of already scarce donor organs nose-dives?”

Read more, here.

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Monoclonal Antibodies Safe for Organ Recipients with Covid-19

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Solid organ transplant recipients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 can be safely treated with monoclonal antibody therapy, a new study confirmed.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, reported that monoclonal antibody treatment was associated with favorable outcomes with minimal side effects in the first solid organ transplant patients to receive the infusions for Covid-19 at their center.

None of the 73 patients died, required mechanical ventilation, or experienced organ rejection.

Eleven of the patients (15%) had emergency department visits within 28 days of monoclonal antibody infusion, including 9 who were hospitalized for a median of 4 days. Just one patient required ICU admission for a non-Covid-19 indication.

Read more, here.

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Transplant Hospitals Fight New Formula for Allocating Kidneys

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A second federal appeals court is wading into a long-running dispute over how best to allocate organs from deceased donors.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear arguments June 17 over a policy change in how kidneys are distributed. Transplant candidates within a 250 nautical-mile circle around a donor’s hospital now get priority. Before the change took effect March 15, kidneys were allocated based on geographic boundaries that roughly followed state lines.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which coordinates organ donations and transplants, argues its fixed circle policy aims to make organ allocations more equitable for everyone, particularly in areas like New York City where the demand is greater than the supply.

However, six transplant hospitals and a patient waiting for a kidney want the policy blocked by a federal appeals court. They argue it was rushed through without proper notice and comment, and will result in fewer transplants every year.

Read more, here.

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Bezlotoxumab Reduces Odds of Recurrent C Difficile for Organ Transplant Recipients

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New research shows bezlotoxumab is effective at reducing the risk of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) at the 90 day mark in a cohort of patients recently receiving solid-organ transplantation.

A team, led by Tanner M. Johnson, Department of Pharmacy, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, compared recurrent C difficile infection rates in solid-organ and hematopoietic-cell transplant recipients.

Read more, here.

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Higher SARS-CoV-2 Positivity Found Among Kidney Transplant Waitlist Candidates

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Kidney transplant (KT) waitlist candidates may have a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 positivity than official government data indicate, according to investigators presenting at the virtual American Transplant Congress 2021.

Of 400 waitlist candidates who resided in Georgia counties with an above-average COVID-19 case rate in August 2020, 28 candidates tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, yielding a 7% positivity rate. (Use of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis was comparable between KT candidates who tested positive and negative.)

Read full article, here.

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Kidney Transplantation Not Linked to Higher Prostate Cancer Mortality

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Men with end-stage kidney disease and prostate cancer (PCa) are not more likely to die from the malignancy if they receive a kidney transplant (KT) compared with undergoing dialysis, data presented at the virtual 2021 American Transplant Congress suggest.

Using Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare registry 2004-2015 data, Nagaraju Sarabu, MD, of University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of 1959 men diagnosed with PCa following a diagnosis of end-stage kidney disease: 1478 on dialysis and 481 with a functioning kidney transplant.

In adjusted analyses, KT recipients had a significant 45% reduced risk for overall mortality compared with dialysis patients, but the groups did not differ significantly with regard to PCa-specific mortality, Dr Sarabu’s team reported.

Read full article, here.

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Kidney Transplant Rates Recovering After Plummeting Early in the Pandemic

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During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March-April 2020, kidney waitlist registrations and kidney transplantations plummeted in the United States, followed by encouraging recovery, investigators reported at the virtual American Transplant Congress 2021.

Allan B. Massie, PhD, and collaborators from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, compared expected with actual rates of transplant services from March to October 2020 using data from The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Kidney waitlisting dropped from 19% below normal in March to 45% below normal in May, then showed steady recovery through October, when new listings were only 6% below normal, the investigators reported. Waitlist deaths peaked at 72% above expected in March-April, declined to 7% above expected in June, then climbed again to 16% above expected in August, during a second wave of COVID-19 infection.

Read full article, here.

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