A Word From African American Leaders.
Dr. Velma Scantlebury, America’s First African-American, Female Transplant Surgeon answers your most pressing questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the Q&A, here.
“This is not a pandemic “silver lining” story.
This is a could-have-been-far-worse story about how the pandemic did not fuel a catastrophe in transplantation or worsen the persistent gap between people who need organs and the donations that supply them. But just as the pandemic is not over yet, neither is the potential danger of related ramifications for people whose organs may fail and need replacement.
Covid-19’s first surge last year flooded hospitals in the United States and nearly drowned those in the Northeast. They couldn’t find enough personal protective equipment for beleaguered workers, they didn’t yet have reliable testing for patients or staff, and they couldn’t know when the nightmare might end. Within that maelstrom, many transplants had to be put on hold: How do you perform life-saving operations when the supply of already scarce donor organs nose-dives?”
Read more, here.
Solid organ transplant recipients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 can be safely treated with monoclonal antibody therapy, a new study confirmed.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, reported that monoclonal antibody treatment was associated with favorable outcomes with minimal side effects in the first solid organ transplant patients to receive the infusions for Covid-19 at their center.
None of the 73 patients died, required mechanical ventilation, or experienced organ rejection.
Eleven of the patients (15%) had emergency department visits within 28 days of monoclonal antibody infusion, including 9 who were hospitalized for a median of 4 days. Just one patient required ICU admission for a non-Covid-19 indication.
Read more, here.
A second federal appeals court is wading into a long-running dispute over how best to allocate organs from deceased donors.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear arguments June 17 over a policy change in how kidneys are distributed. Transplant candidates within a 250 nautical-mile circle around a donor’s hospital now get priority. Before the change took effect March 15, kidneys were allocated based on geographic boundaries that roughly followed state lines.
The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which coordinates organ donations and transplants, argues its fixed circle policy aims to make organ allocations more equitable for everyone, particularly in areas like New York City where the demand is greater than the supply.
However, six transplant hospitals and a patient waiting for a kidney want the policy blocked by a federal appeals court. They argue it was rushed through without proper notice and comment, and will result in fewer transplants every year.
Read more, here.
Studies show that 26 percent of Black patients waiting for an organ receive one and the number is nearly double for white patients. Dr. Dinee Simpson is one of 10 Black, female transplant surgeons practicing in the U.S. She started the first and only program in the country that helps African Americans receive organs.
Read more and watch the interview, here.
After more than 100 transplants, the pediatric heart team in Charlotte says they can keep families together for tough battles.
When a child needs a heart transplant, there’s a lot to factor in. But the team at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte says they’re equipped to provide the best care possible for kids in the region, and they say they can keep families closer to home for care.
During a panel on Facebook Live on Thursday, four members of the Pediatric Heart Surgery and Cardiology team discussed what they do to help ensure kids who need a heart transplant not only can get one but also are able to recover quickly and have continuing care that lasts until adulthood. Dr. Gonzalo Wallis, one of the experts on the panel, notes the program at Charlotte is not only the only one in the region but nationally-ranked and fully equipped to handle anything. Wallis was especially grateful for a generous donation from former Carolina Panther Greg Olsen and his wife Carol; one of their sons, TJ, was born with congenital heart disease, prompting them to help the program out.
Read the full story, here.
A small new study offers a glimmer of hope that giving organ transplant recipients a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine could boost their protection against the coronavirus.
That’s important because prior research has shown that nearly half of organ transplant recipients failed to show any antibody response even after two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
And even in transplant recipients who showed an antibody response to vaccination, that response was often more muted than in people with healthy immune systems. That has led doctors to advise these patients not to assume that vaccination equals immunity. More than 400,000 people in the U.S. are living with organ transplants, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.
Read more, here.
New research shows bezlotoxumab is effective at reducing the risk of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) at the 90 day mark in a cohort of patients recently receiving solid-organ transplantation.
A team, led by Tanner M. Johnson, Department of Pharmacy, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, compared recurrent C difficile infection rates in solid-organ and hematopoietic-cell transplant recipients.
Read more, here.
Kidney transplant (KT) waitlist candidates may have a higher rate of SARS-CoV-2 positivity than official government data indicate, according to investigators presenting at the virtual American Transplant Congress 2021.
Of 400 waitlist candidates who resided in Georgia counties with an above-average COVID-19 case rate in August 2020, 28 candidates tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, yielding a 7% positivity rate. (Use of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis was comparable between KT candidates who tested positive and negative.)
Read full article, here.
Ten years after their first date, Debby Neal-Strickland put on a cream-colored lace gown and married her longtime sweetheart at their Florida church. Two days later, she put on a hospital gown and donated a kidney to Mylaen Merthe — her new husband’s ex-wife.
An unusual story? Yes. But the tale of Jim Merthe and his two wives is a testament to how love and compassion can triumph over division.
Mylaen, 59, had long struggled with kidney disease. By last year, she was ghostly pale with dark circles under her eyes, dragging herself through the workday with no energy. By the time she was admitted to the hospital in November, her kidneys were only functioning at 8%.
Her brother offered to donate a kidney, but wasn’t a match so Debby volunteered.
Read full story, here.