By Dr. Kenneth Brayman
How does a living kidney donation work, and who is eligible to be a donor?
The first successful kidney transplant in humans was accomplished in 1954, and the transplant was from a living donor. Advances in immunosuppression (drugs that prevent rejection of donated organs) were achieved in the 1980s and 1990s, and the field of organ transplantation has grown remarkably over the past 40 years. Read more in The Daily Progress.
More than 100,000 people need an organ in the United States. Of those patients, almost 90,000 are waiting to receive a kidney. We can all check that box on our license to donate an organ if something happens to us, but did you know you could save a life now?
Living donors can lead healthy, long lives and save others. Kidneys from living donors are superior in almost every way. There are fewer complications, the kidney begins to work sooner, and it allows flexibility in planning surgeries. Read more from Dartmouth Health.
By Jeff Kelley
After learning her blood and anatomy was a match, Katherine Rudolph considered the implications of donating part of her liver to her dad.
Her future, as a mother of two young kids. Her recovery, including weeks of being unable to lift, and time away from teaching high school Spanish. Would it burden her family and husband? And, of course, there was the abdominal scar. Read more from VCUHealth News Center.
Randy Weber was one of the youngest Olympians back when he competed. Decades later, transplant pros, a friend who had served in the Marines and Randy’s teacher-brother all teamed up to save the skier’s life.
The Olympic ski jumper felt utterly calm as he stood on long skis at the top of a 300-foot-tower.
He breathed deeply, then took off, reaching 55 miles per hour as he flew through the air for several seconds over the length of a football field. Read the full story from UC Health.
For a patient who needs a liver, living donation offers an alternative to staying on a list of over 10,000 people waiting for a liver transplant. But what happens when your donor is not a match? To expand the number of living liver donations in the United States, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has launched the first national paired liver donation pilot program in the United States. Read more in Medscape.
University Health Transplant Institute marked an important annual milestone as it closed out 2022: it had performed more pediatric kidney transplants with organs from living donors than any other transplant program in the country.
The credit for much of that success goes to the Institute’s Champion for Life program, which helps patients needing organs reach potential donors. Patients identify a donor champion who supports them as they learn how to share their stories on social media and among networks of friends and relatives. Read more from University Health.
Newswise — PHILADELPHIA – The Penn Transplant Institute at Penn Medicine has opened a new Center for Living Donation which will expand Penn’s exceptional care for living donors, helping to maximize the number of lives saved through liver and kidney transplantation. For the thousands waiting on a lifesaving organ, living donation—when a living person donates an organ, or part of an organ, for transplantation to another person—can help those in need receive life-saving care sooner. Read more in Newswise.
A life-saving treatment, solid organ transplantation (SOT) has transformed the survival and quality of life of patients with end-organ dysfunction. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the practice of deceased and living donations worldwide by various resource shifting, including healthcare personnel and equipment such as ventilators and bed space. Read the full abstract in Nature.
With over 105,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, it should be no surprise that organ donation is one of the most important medical procedures of our time. In 2021 alone, more than 11,800 people on the national transplant list were waiting specifically for a liver transplant.
But what does the journey of a liver transplant involve, exactly? And what does this process look like for living liver donors who make the choice to donate a part of their liver?
Read more from Healthline.
BEING DIAGNOSED WITH KIDNEY FAILURE comes with many challenges. Medications, dialysis, the physical and emotional exhaustion. It’s all the more difficult if you develop end-stage kidney disease and need a kidney transplant.
For these individuals, there are only three treatment options: