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Transplant Chief Was an Organ Recipient Herself

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— Years ago, she had a liver transplant. Now she leads Hopkins’ pediatric liver transplant program

By Jennifer Henderson
Though it wasn’t so long ago that Sara Kathryn Smith, MD, was a liver transplant patient herself, last year she became the medical director for pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

Smith’s unique perspective on patient care has primed her for the role, and for advocating for the importance of organ donation and transplantation throughout the calendar year, but especially in April — National Donate Life Month. Read the full article in MedPage Today.

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Short wait times, long-term survival in young children receiving lung transplant

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By Isabella Hornick

Children aged younger than 3 years receiving a lung transplant have different diagnoses, shorter wait times and comparable long-term survival to older patients, according to a study published inAnnals of the American Thoracic Society.

“Carefully selected infants and young children with end-stage lung and pulmonary vascular disease are appropriate candidates for lung transplantation and are likely underserved by current clinical practice,” Ernestina Melicoff, MD, assistant professor in the section of pediatric pulmonology at Baylor College of Medicine and medical director of the lung transplant program at Texas Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote. Read more in Healio.

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Recent diabetes, obesity drug shortages reveal challenges for prescribers

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ByErin T. Welsh, MA
ByMichael Monostra
ByJill Rollet

Recent shortages of the type 2 diabetes therapies semaglutide and tirzepatide, widely reported in the consumer press, appear to be resolving, according to manufacturers and prescribers.

Beginning in the middle of last year in the United States, but extending globally, the shortages caused numerous challenges for prescribers treating people with type 2 diabetes and with obesity. Read more in Healio.

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Do I need to lose weight to get a kidney transplant? Answers to your questions

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Written By Michelle A. Josephson, MD

For many people with end-stage kidney disease, or kidney failure, weight has been a barrier to receiving a kidney transplant. However, many kidney transplant centers and specialists are reexamining traditional weight criteria, opening the path for more people to be candidates for kidney transplantation. Read the full article in At the Forefront UChicago Medicine.

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FDA OKs Cell Therapy to Lower Infection Risk After Stem Cell Transplant

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— Omidubicel reduced infections in blood cancer patients from 60% to 39% at 100 days posttransplant

By Ian Ingram

The FDA approved omidubicel (Omisirge) opens in a new tab or window to reduce the risk for infections in hematologic cancer patients undergoing stem cell transplant, the agency announced on Monday.

Omidubicel is designed to speed up neutrophil recovery and is indicated for patients ages 12 and up planning to undergo umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) following a myeloablative conditioning regimen, which can impair the immune system. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Donate Life Month: WRNMMC at the Forefront in Kidney Transplant

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By Aisha Lomax
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) is at the forefront of organ transplant services in the Department of Defense (DOD) and is the only DOD military treatment facility (MTF) to perform kidney transplants.

The WRNMMC Organ Transplant Service has consistently been ranked as one of the top kidney transplant programs in the nation. According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), which supports the transplant community with analyses to better patient experiences and outcomes, WRNMMC’s Organ Transplant Service has a 97 percent one-year patient and graft survival rate and a 96 percent three-year survival rate, which rates WRNMMC as a 5-STAR program by SRTR. Read the full story from Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).

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Dual-Organ Transplant at Strong Memorial Hospital Saves Young Woman

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Busy mom recovering after 14 hours in surgery, 2 new organs, care from team of 250+

A Chili mother is recovering from life-saving, dual-organ transplant surgeries following a massive effort at UR Medicine’s Strong Memorial Hospital. 

More than 250 clinical and support staff – enough to fill three city buses – helped with her care, which included more than 14 hours of surgeries to give her a new heart and a new kidney. 
Read more from the University of Rochester Medical Center Newsroom.

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A near-death cardiac event, a transplant and now, a mom again

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By UCHealth Writers
Chantelle Sharketti was just 40 years old when she suffered a spontaneous coronary aortic dissection, a medical emergency that often causes sudden death, while she was at home with her three young children. There were no warning signs that her heart was about to fail.

Within a few minutes of arriving at UCHealth Memorial North in Colorado Springs, Chantelle was sedated, intubated and taken to the heart catheterization lab, where a cardiologist placed stents to open her arteries. Read more in UCHealth Today.

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‘We have our work cut out for us’: Raising awareness of pediatric long COVID

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By Rose Weldon
The medical world has to overcome the perception that children are not susceptible to long COVID, physicians said during a U.S. News and World Report webinar on the topic.

Approximately one in eight patients with COVID-19 experiences long COVID, according to data published last year. Among pediatric patients, adolescents are overrepresented.
Read more from Healio News.

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