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Study confirms living kidney donor surgery is low risk for most patients

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The risk of major complications for people who donate a kidney via laparoscopic surgery is minimal. That is the conclusion of a 20-year Mayo Clinic study of more than 3,000 living kidney donors. Only 2.5% of patients in the study experienced major complications, and all recovered completely.

“The results of this study are extremely reassuring for individuals who are considering being living kidney donors. We found that this lifesaving surgery, when performed at experienced transplant centers, is extremely safe,” says Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Division of Transplant Surgery at Mayo Clinic’s William J. von Liebig Center for Transplantation and Clinical Regeneration in Minnesota. Dr. Taner is a co-author of the study. Read more in Medical Xpress.

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Electrolyte Abnormalities Common in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

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Solid organ transplant recipients display a variety of electrolyte abnormalities in the early months after transplant surgery that need to be monitored, according to investigators presenting at the National Kidney Foundation’s 2022 Spring Clinical Meetings being held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Investigators examined the electronic health records of 199 recipients treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York during 2019 to 2021. Hypomagnesemia increased significantly 3 months after transplant, affecting 68.6% of liver, 50.9% of kidney, and 41.7% of heart transplant recipients. Read the full article in Renal & Urology News.

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Lifestyle Effects Intervention in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash
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Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may benefit considerably from supervised lifestyle therapies that increase physical activity and fitness. For a study, researchers conducted a randomized clinical study in 160 patients with stage 3–4 CKD to test the efficacy of a lifestyle intervention in improving cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise capacity over 36 months. Read more in Physician’s Weekly.

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Access to kidney transplantation is improving for everyone, but more work remains to be done

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Organ donation and transplantation are saving more lives in the United States than ever before, thanks to concerted work by stakeholders from across the country: donor families, organ procurement organizations, transplant centers, the Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN), the hundreds of volunteers who serve on OPTN committees, and others.

I have witnessed this remarkable achievement firsthand as a transplant physician caring for people with kidney disease. I also witness the plight of people with end-stage kidney disease who languish on transplant wait lists, a situation that is compounded by the kinds of disparities seen in other aspects of health care. Read more in STAT News.

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5 Big Benefits of Living Donation for the Donor

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You probably have heard of the enormous benefits of a living vs. deceased-donor kidney for the recipient, but did you know that there are real benefits to the donor, too?

For family members or couples, they are nothing short of dramatic:
1. Helping a loved one is an amazing feeling: To see a loved one who’s been pale, weak, and often listless for many months or years gradually become their old self again is pretty powerful. Before I donated my kidney to my son in 2006, his 20 months on dialysis had left him lethargic and depressed; seeing his smile when he came into my hospital room the day after the transplant was unforgettable. Read the full story from National Kidney Foundation here.

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Vital Signs: Working to better preserve hearts for transplants

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Studies have shown that hearts and other donor organs are very sensitive to the temperatures at which they are preserved during transport. Temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius have been shown to have a negative effect on outcomes for transplant patients and potentially be linked to complications related to the viability of a donor organ for transplant.
Read the full story in The Daily Progress.

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Kidney Brothers Develop Bond for Life

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What happened between two families at Stanford Children’s Health bonded them forever.

While awaiting kidney transplants for their young boys, the two families—one from Hawaii, one from California—became friends. Families often become close during the long hours of dialysis, but they don’t often hear the hopeful news that a donor kidney might be a match on the same day. Read the full story from Stanford Children’s Health here.

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Vital Signs: Working to better preserve hearts for transplant

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Studies have shown that hearts and other donor organs are very sensitive to the temperatures at which they are preserved during transport. Temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius have been shown to have a negative effect on outcomes for transplant patients and potentially be linked to complications related to the viability of a donor organ for transplant.

Another challenge is related to the lack of data related to organ conditions during transport. With the standard method of preserving organs — packing them in ice — it is difficult to know the precise temperature at which a donated organ is being preserved during transport. Read the full article in The Daily Progress.

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