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CareDx, Miromatrix partner to study use of bioengineered organs for human transplantation

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By Julie S. Keenan

CareDx Inc. has partnered with Miromatrix Medical Inc. to address the organ supply shortage and improve transplantation outcomes by researching the use of bioengineered organs in humans, according to the press release.

“Increasing the life of the graft and increasing the quality of life of transplant recipients is CareDx’s goal, and one of the ways that we saw several years ago to do that was through partial investment in Miromatrix,” Robert Woodward, PhD, senior vice president of research and development for CareDx, told Healio.
Read the full story in Healio.

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Navigating incidental genetic findings for CVD requires caution, established framework

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By Regina Schaffer

Genetic variants associated with CVD found incidentally during testing should be interpreted with caution using a framework that includes a multidisciplinary team of experts, according to a new scientific statement.

“There has been a tremendous expansion in our ability to interrogate the genome for the causes of disease,” Andrew Landstrom, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and cell biology at Duke University School of Medicine, told Healio. 
Read the full story in Healio.

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Liver transplant program receives national recognition

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By Norma Rabago

The University Health Transplant Institute was recently recognized by INTERLINK, a national managed care company, as the No. 1 liver transplant program in the country. The Transplant Institute is a partnership between University Health and the Malú and Carlos Alvarez Center for Transplantation, Hepatobiliary Surgery and Innovation at UT Health San Antonio.

For more than 50 years, the medical school’s transplant center has staffed University Health with best-in-class physicians from the faculty of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Read more from the UT San Antonio Health Newsroom.

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We didn’t give up hope: Emily’s fighting chance with her lung transplant

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By Veronica Giarla

Emily lights up every room she’s in with her giggles and confidence — not to mention her sparkly painted nails and glittery makeup. At 6 years old, she’s able to win people over with her bright smile and electric personality.

All this is made possible because Emily was given the gift of life — an organ donation in what seemed to be impossible circumstances. “It was during one family’s darkest hour that Emily was given the ability to continue to live,” shares Stephanie, Emily’s mom. Read the full story from Boston Children’s Hospital.

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Four Things You May Not Know About Kidney Transplants

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In 1954, the human kidney became the first organ to be transplanted successfully, an achievement that later earned surgeon Joseph Murray, MD, a Nobel Prize. Today, kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organ in the United States. Doctors at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute performed more than 300 kidney transplants last year alone. And the number of those patients who survived one year with their new kidney exceeded the national average. Despite the prevalence and success of the procedure, many people are in the dark about how it works. Here are four little-known facts about kidney transplants. Read more from NYU Langone Health News.

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Unpacking the emotional layers of transplant: guilt, gratitude, and grief

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The most complicated relationship you’ll have with a person you’ll never meet

By Christie Patient
This week, while my husband, Jonny, and I sat at home in isolation after our tests for COVID-19 were positive, I struggled to feel joy. My friend sent me a video of someone singing a popular emo anthem while holding a wet strawberry — its soggy leaves pasted to its bright red skin in a way that resembled the hairstyles of many of my millennial peers circa 2004. I have never related more to a piece of fruit.

The angst expressed in emo music — an emotional genre that came after hardcore punk and was the soundtrack for my pubescent years — still lives within me. And there’s nothing like being stuck at home with an infectious disease to bring angst to the surface. Read the full story in Pulmonary Fibrosis News.


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Review Probes Intricacies of Protecting Kidney Transplant Recipients From COVID-19

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By Jared Kaltwasser

Vaccines were safe in transplant recipients, but their efficacy was affected by immunosuppressive therapies.

People who undergo kidney transplantation appear to have better outcomes from COVID-19 compared with those waiting for transplants, according to a new review.

However, the report also found that the immunosuppressive regimens associated with the procedure can complicate efforts to protect patients from the virus. The report was published in Cureus. Read more from the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC).

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Spanish hospital pioneers new lung transplant approach

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MADRID, April 17 (Reuters) – A Spanish hospital has carried out a lung transplant using a pioneering technique with a robot and a new access route that no longer requires cutting through bone, experts said on Monday.

Surgeons at Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona used a four-armed robot dubbed “Da Vinci” to cut a small section of the patient’s skin, fat and muscle to remove the damaged lung and insert a new one through an eight-centimetre (three-inch) incision below the sternum, just above the diaphragm.
Read the full story from Reuters.

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Stanford Medicine surgeons perform first beating-heart transplants from cardiac death donors

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Surgeons at Stanford Medicine believe the new technique, which has now been performed on six patients, will improve health outcomes for recipients and boost the pool of available organs.

By Roxanna Van Norman
Using an organ from a donor who underwent cardiac death, Stanford Medicine surgeons transplanted a heart while it was beating — the first time such a procedure has been achieved.

Initially performed by Joseph Woo, MD, professor and chair of cardiothoracic surgery, and his team in October, the technique has since been used in adult and pediatric patients five more times by surgeons at Stanford Medicine. Read more from Stanford Medicine News Center.

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