Kidney transplant survival and the genetic landscape of donor-recipient variations.
By Dr. Prajakta Banik
Kidney transplantation is a life-saving medical procedure that offers a chance for a better quality of life for individuals with end-stage kidney disease. However, the success of kidney transplantation depends on various factors, one of which is the compatibility between the donor’s kidney and the recipient’s body. Read more in Tech Explorist.
By Valerie DeBenedette
Three people living with HIV had promising outcomes after donating kidneys to three others with HIV, according to a prospective study within the HOPE in Action Multicenter Consortium.
Among the three living donors, grade 3 or higher nephrectomy-related adverse events occurred in two donors after donation, including a medically managed ileus and a laparoscopically repaired incisional hernia, reported Christine Durand, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues.
Read the complete article in MedPage Today.
By Judy Stone
A new study in Lancet showed that it is safe for HIV + people to be living kidney donors. People living with HIV (PLWH) have long faced stigma and discrimination. The new report shows that donors do not face a higher risk of end-stage kidney disease. This was a concern because PLWH have a higher likelihood of kidney disease from their HIV itself, and antiretroviral (anti-HIV) medicines carry kidney and liver toxicities.
Read the complete article in Forbes.
In 1954, the human kidney became the first organ to be transplanted successfully, an achievement that later earned surgeon Joseph Murray, MD, a Nobel Prize. Today, kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organ in the United States. Doctors at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute performed more than 300 kidney transplants last year alone. And the number of those patients who survived one year with their new kidney exceeded the national average. Despite the prevalence and success of the procedure, many people are in the dark about how it works. Here are four little-known facts about kidney transplants. Read more from NYU Langone Health News.
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).
Historically, Black patients have had to wait longer for kidney transplants than other races, in part because of an outdated test that overestimated their kidney function. Now, a new national rule will remove the test, which is seen as racially bias, in determining who gets a transplant. NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor shares more. Watch the story on NBC Nightly News.
Transplant-eligible patients with kidney failure should not be denied a kidney transplant based on their age, according to investigators in Austria.
They based that conclusion on a study of 4445 patients on a kidney transplant waiting list for their first single-organ deceased-donor kidney. Of these, 3621 (81.5%) received a kidney transplant and 1392 (31.3%) died. Read more in Renal & Urology News.
Simulations revealed that using deceased donor kidneys in transplant chains could increase the number of transplants by 290 a year, according to data published in the Kidney International Reports.
Further, investigators noted that using deceased donors (DD) can increase transplantations for blood type O kidney-paired donation (KPD) candidates. Read more in Healio.
Kidneys from Black donors are automatically downgraded in transplant assessments, but studying a gene variant could help change that.
Transplant specialists, when evaluating kidneys that come from donors, try to work out how likely it is that the kidney will fail after being transplanted into a recipient. Their risk calculations consider factors including the donor’s age, height, weight and history of diabetes. And, to the dismay of some researchers, it also includes the donor’s race.
Kidneys from deceased Black donors are automatically downgraded as higher risk.
Read the full story in The New York Times.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver damage. It’s spread through contaminated blood, for example, if you inject drugs with a needle that was used by someone with the virus.
It doesn’t typically cause symptoms right away, so it’s hard to know if you have it. Over time, though, the hepatitis C virus (HCV) can start to affect your liver function, leading to symptoms like fatigue and jaundice. Read the full story in Healthline here.