Patients on dialysis and patients receiving care for transplantation reported a need for increased mental health resources, patient-focused education and support following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to published data.
Further, patients reported more frequent and severe panic attacks as a direct result of the pandemic. Read more in Healio.
NEW YORK – Four international associations focusing on heart rhythm disturbances have published a consensus statement regarding how to best use genetics to test for inherited cardiac diseases.
The 61-page document was authored by representatives of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a branch of the European Society of Cardiology; the Washington, D.C.-based Heart Rhythm Society; the Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society; and the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society. Read the complete story in GenomeWeb here.
Women who need a liver transplant are more likely to spend more time on a waiting list, become too sick for transplant or die compared to men. To improve equity, a recently published Vanderbilt-led study suggests a sex adjustment to criteria for MELD (model for end-stage liver disease), which determines allocation of transplanted livers.
The paper, “Proposing a Sex-Adjusted Sodium-Adjusted MELD Score for Liver Transplant Allocation” appears in JAMA Surgery. Read more in the VUMC Reporter.
— Infection is likely headed toward seasonality, but it’s not there yet
COVID-19 may indeed become a seasonal illness with predictable patterns of infection — but it’s not there yet, epidemiologists and infectious disease experts say.
While the virus has had some element of seasonality since it first came into the world more than 2 years ago, other factors — including variant evolution, population immunity, and behavioral changes — have made seasonality less apparent. Read more in MedPage Today.
The heartwarming moment mother Maria Clark got to listen to her son’s heart two years after a fatal car crash was captured on video by the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency.
Maria Clark lost her son, Nicholas Peters, in a fatal car accident nearly two years ago. He was 25. At the time, Clark knew immediately that she wanted to donate his organs. The Madisonville, Louisiana, resident said she also knew her son would have wanted the same. Unbeknown to her, the grateful donee who received her son’s heart lived less than three hours away from her. Jean Paul Marceaux, aged 14, received her son’s heart after spending a whole summer in the hospital fighting for his life. For the first time since the transplant took place, Clark had the opportunity to meet the young boy and listen to her son’s heart, Good Morning America reports. Read the full story from Upworthy.
Tips to help you eat smart for your heart
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 6.2 million adults in this country are living with heart failure. This condition occurs when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood or oxygen to help other parts of your body.
While health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and obesity can increase your risk for heart failure, smoking, drinking heavily, not exercising and eating a diet heavy in saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol can as well. Read more from the Cleveland Clinic.
For many people suffering from one kidney condition or another, there are many questions to be asked: what are my treatment options? How can I donate my car to charity for kidney research? What do I eat and drink to reduce my symptoms? What kind of exercise should I be getting? Your doctor will have most of those answers for you, the experts at Kidney Cars can help you donate your car, and here are a few tips for incorporating a simple walking program into your day to help improve kidney function. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.
The number of U.S. residents on the waiting list for a lifesaving organ transplant totaled 105,960 men, women and children as of late May, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit group that manages the nation’s transplant system under contract with the federal government. On average, 17 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant.
In 2021, 41,354 transplants were done, with organs from 20,401 donors, including both deceased and living donors. Kidneys are the most frequently transplanted organ, followed by the liver, heart, lungs, pancreas and intestines. Kidneys accounted for more than half of transplants performed last year (24,670) and represent the organ needed by more than 80 percent of those on the waiting list. Read the complete story in The Washington Post.
A multicenter study performed by a large international consortium that includes UT Southwestern has outlined a set of risk factors and outcomes for patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) that recurs after liver transplantation. The findings, published in the Journal of Hepatology, represent a first step toward better managing and potentially preventing this uncommon condition.
“Autoimmune hepatitis is a very rare disorder of the liver, and liver transplant is a rare surgical procedure, with only 9,236 performed in the United States in 2021.
Read the full story in News Medical Life Sciences.
Kidney transplant recipients do not contract COVID-19 from accepting a kidney donation from a COVID-19-positive deceased donor, according to data published in the Journal of Urology.
In a retrospective review, the Cleveland Clinic transplant team examined data for 55 patients who received a kidney donation from 34 deceased donors with COVID-19 between February 2021 and October 2021. All donors tested positive for COVID-19 within a median of 4 days of organ donation. Read more in Healio.