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How machine learning could aid compatibility in kidney transplantation

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Through the PURM internship program, undergraduate students are further researching an algorithm developed to group kidney donor-recipient pairs into low-risk and high-risk groups for graft survival.

By Erica Moser

The United States saw a record 25,487 kidney transplants in 2021, according to the latest annual data report from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Five years after transplantation, successful organ function—called graft survival—of kidneys from deceased donors was 81% among patients ages 18 to 34 and 68% among people older than 65.
Read the full article in Penn Today.

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Fixed-ratio spirometry misses COPD diagnoses in African American patients

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By Isabella Hornick

A fixed-ratio criteria of FEV1/FVC less than 0.7 for COPD resulted in fewer diagnoses in African American vs. non-Hispanic white individuals, according to results published inJournal of General Internal Medicine.

“Relying only on spirometry for diagnosing COPD does not do justice to the known manifestations of the disease,” Elizabeth A. Regan, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at National Jewish Health, told Healio. Read the full article in Healio.

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1st ‘domino’ transplant performed in babies saves 2 girls born with heart defects

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When the Skaats family learned baby Mia needed a new heart they felt devastated. But Mia helped another family in domino heart transplant, a first in babies.

By Meghan Holohan

When Mia Skaats was only 10 days old, she began breathing rapidly, and her mom, Nicole Skaats, immediately knew something was wrong. Doctors eventually determined the newborn had cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart struggles to bump blood to the rest of the body, and she was in heart failure.

Mia needed a heart transplant, so when one became available, the Skaats family felt overjoyed their daughter, born in September 2022, would have a new chance at life. Check out the full story from NBC’s Today.

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CDC: Dialysis Patients Carry Heavier COVID Burden

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— Vaccination reduced some of the excess risk, agency says

By Michele Sullivan

Patients on maintenance dialysis had somewhat higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 infections and related deaths than seen in the general U.S. population, although immunization mitigated some of the excess risk, the CDC reported.

From June 30, 2021, to Sept. 27, 2022, the overall infection rate per 10,000 patient-weeks was 30.47 among maintenance dialysis patients, with a range from 20.13-46.45 across the different waves of variants compared with 17.13-43.62 per 10,000 population-weeks in the general population. Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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How machine learning could aid compatibility in kidney transplantation

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By Erica Moser

The United States saw a record 25,487 kidney transplants in 2021, according to the latest annual data report from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Five years after transplantation, successful organ function—called graft survival—of kidneys from deceased donors was 81% among patients ages 18 to 34 and 68% among people older than 65.

Malek Kamoun of the Perelman School of Medicine and Ryan Urbanowicz of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are developing machine learning strategies to improve kidney matching and decrease the risk of graft failure—with help from Penn students. Read the full article in Medical Xpress.

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Study Measures Impact of Pausing Organ Transplants in Pandemic

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By Brittany Magelssen

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted organ transplants in unprecedented ways. Many transplant centers considered slowing down and even pausing all transplants, mostly due to the potential risk of COVID-19 to organ donors, transplant recipients and care providers.

In a study published in the May 2023 special issue of Production and Operations Management on managing pandemics, two operations management researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas analyzed the impact of pausing transplants on patient outcomes.
Read the complete article from The University of Texas at Dallas.

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Kidney doctors push to protect patients by including dialysis machines in emergency stockpile

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By Carrie Arnold

Ariel Brigham was drowning. Hurricane Harvey had dumped over 50 inches of rain across Houston and coastal Texas, leaving the then-26-year-old Texan stranded in her flooded apartment.

But what was killing Brigham wasn’t water from the hurricane. It was the excess fluid and toxins building up in her own body. Read the full story in STAT.

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Veteran uses his own stem cells in transplant to stave off blood cancer, prolong life

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By Lisa Aubry

Within less than a year of his diagnosis, Ronney Hester pushed his multiple myeloma into complete remission, meaning all signs and symptoms of the blood cancer disappeared. With his fatigue and breathlessness out of the picture, the 62-year-old army veteran forged on, partnering with Loma Linda University Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) program earlier this year to receive a transplant of his own stem cells. The transplant is intended to keep the cancer in remission and prolong his life for years to come. Read the full story from Loma Linda University Health.

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Should patients bundle COVID-19, flu and RSV vaccines into single visit?

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By Caitlyn Stulpin

This fall, older adults in the United States will have the opportunity to receive three vaccines to against fall and winter season respiratory illnesses — COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.

We asked Aaron E. Glatt, MD, MACP, FIDSA, FSHEA, chairman of the department of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, if physicians should encourage patients to bundle the three vaccines into a single visit. Read the full story in Healio.

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Make-A-Wish Participant and Kidney Transplant Recipient Experiences a Day as a Doctor

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By Kristin Samuelson

Twelve-year-old Melanie Rodriguez Romo has dreamed of becoming a doctor since she was just three. So much so that she requested it as her Make-A-Wish following a life-saving kidney transplant.

A team-effort between Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the kidney and transplant teams at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Lurie Children’s kidSTAR Medical Education Program, her wish was granted. Read the full story from Northwestern Medicine News Center.

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