Researchers developed a patient preference survey intended to show maximal acceptable risk for using a kidney replacement device and willingness-to-wait for devices with lower risk.
“Catalyzed by U.S. regulatory reform and the Kidney Innovation Accelerator (KidneyX) prize competition, there has been unprecedented [kidney replacement therapy] KRT research and development in recent years. Read the full story in Healio.
A recent study of patients with kidney failure receiving outpatient hemodialysis1,2 found similar effectiveness between nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatments for depression.
Depression is common among patients with kidney failure and is associated with poor outcomes including higher risk of kidney function decline, hospitalization, and death. In the United States, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires dialysis facilities to screen patients for depression. Positive screenings require kidney care teams to create a follow-up plan for further assessment and treatment.3
Read the full article from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
On May 6, 2014, all Kevin Schnurr had to do was remember his name and date of birth.
So—on May 6, 2014—Kevin awoke from surgery, and doctors and nurses asked him his name and date of birth.
Kevin successfully replied, “My name is Kevin Schnurr … and I was born on March 31, 1986.”
Read the full story on CareDx.com.
There are approximately 100,000 people in the United States waiting for a kidney, and many more living kidney donors are needed to give kidney patients a chance to receive a life-saving kidney transplant. If you are considering becoming a living kidney donor, you may be wondering whether kidney donation is safe, or if there are any risks associated with kidney donation surgery.
A new study by the Mayo Clinic confirms that the risk of major complications for living kidney donors is minimal. Of the 3,002 living kidney donors who underwent laparoscopic kidney donor surgery at the Mayo Clinic transplant center from 2000 to 2019, 12.4% had minor post-surgical complications. Just 2.5% of patients in the study experienced major complications, and all made a complete recovery. The study tracked complications that occurred up to 120 days after surgery. Read more from the National Kidney Registry.
They often shared a church pew on Sundays in their Spartanburg, South Carolina, church, but now Karen Randall and Kathy Hodge share much more and have for 20 years. Called the “Liver Sisters” by Hodge’s husband, the two have an incredible bond that has been celebrated throughout the years and every April during National Donate Life Month.
Healthy all her life, Randall was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, primary biliary cholangitis, during a routine check-up in 1995 when she was 41-years-old. The disorder inflames the bile ducts between the liver and the small intestines, which eventually collapse and cause liver damage. The progressive disease would mean that Randall would need a liver transplant within five years. Read the full article from Emory News Center.
In the third installment of a three-part video series, Heather Stefanski, MD, PhD, discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match.
“One of the common questions we received … is what to do when a donor tests positive for COVID-19,” Stefanski — vice president of medical services for National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match — told Healio. Read more in Healio.
Liver transplants from drug overdose donors rose significantly in the pandemic’s first year, helping keep the number of liver transplants in the U.S. stable despite COVID-19 disruptions, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2022.
Using the U.S. organ donation registry, operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing, the research team examined characteristics of donors for all solid organ transplants, including livers, during two 14-month periods, both before the pandemic began and afterwards. They identified those transplants from drug overdose donors to determine the extent of changes during the pandemic. Read more from News Medical Life Sciences.
— Severity of kidney disease ups risk of ICU time, in-hospital mortality, and more
SAN DIEGO — Certain factors were highly predictive of severe COVID illness in hospitalized patients who had type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), a researcher reported.
In a single-center study of patients with T2D and CKD hospitalized with COVID-19 infection, having hyperglycemia upon admission was tied with more than a 10 times higher risk of severe COVID illness (OR 10.49, 95% CI 3.09-35.60), according to Ella Burguera-Couce, an MD candidate at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Read the complete article in MedPage Today.
-Be seen by your transplant team on a regular basis and follow their advice
-Take your anti-rejection medications daily in the proper dose and at the right times, as directed by the transplant team, to keep your body from rejecting your new kidney.
-Follow the recommended schedule for lab tests and clinic visits to make sure that your kidney is working properly.
-Follow a healthy lifestyle including proper diet, exercise, and weight loss if needed
To read the full article and find more post-kidney transplant resources, visit the National Kidney Foundation’s page here.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers evaluated the immune responses after the third (V3) and fourth (V4) doses of homologous and heterologous messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs).
Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.