Vanderbilt Transplant Center Finishes Fiscal Year with Record 809 Solid Organ Transplants

The Vanderbilt Transplant Center performed a record number of solid organ transplants in fiscal year 2024 — 809 life-saving procedures among its adult and pediatric programs. The adult program performed 760 transplants, and the pediatric program completed 49 transplants during the fiscal year, which ran from July 2023 until the end of June 2024.

Experts call for more clinical trials on alcohol use, liver disease

More clinical research is needed to investigate how reducing alcohol consumption in patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) may slow disease progression and improve outcomes, according to an international task force of experts from more than two dozen institutions including UT Southwestern Medical Center.

تُحسِّن جراحة إنقاص الوزن قبل زراعة الكلى صحة وأهلية المرضى المصابين بالسِمنة والفشل الكلوي، وذلك حسب دراسة أجرتها مايو كلينك

روتشستر، ولاية مينيسوتا- يعزز إجراء تكميم المعدة بالتنظير البطني إنقاص الوزن بشكل سريع نسبيًا، ويقلل من المشكلات الصحية المتعلقة بالسِمنة، ويحسن الأهلية لزراعة الكلى لدى مرضى الداء الكلوي المتقدِّم المزمنوالسِمنة، وذلك حسب دراسة بحثية جديدة أجرتها مايو كلينك.

Transplant doctor discusses how living kidney donors can help those in need of a transplant.

Eric Martinez, MD, at Baylor Scott & White Health, discusses how living kidney donors can help those in need of a transplant.  What You Need to Know: Risk factors that could lead to kidney transplant include high blood pressure and…

Novel risk score for cardiovascular complications after bone marrow transplant

While lifesaving, bone marrow transplants can affect various organs, including the cardiovascular system. Researchers led by Michigan Medicine have not only determined the contemporary prevalence of cardiovascular complications after bone marrow transplant — they developed a novel tool to predict a person’s risk for such problems following the procedure and help guide the pre-transplant process.The work formed the basis of a scientific statement published by the American Health Association geared towards the cardiovascular management of patients undergoing bone marrow transplant.

Partial Liver Transplants for Kids Key to Preventing Waitlist Deaths and Improving Outcomes

Dozens of children die each year in the U.S. while waiting for a new liver. A new analysis suggests that greater use of partial liver transplants — either from a living donor or by splitting a deceased donor’s liver for two recipients — could save many of these young lives.

Penn Medicine Launches New Center for Living Donation to Increase Transplant Opportunities for Those in Need of Livers or Kidneys

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.

Great Actions Leave a Mark campaign celebrates the Gift of Life through Living Organ Donation

UHN’s Ajmera Transplant Centre and The Centre for Living Organ Donation announce today the launch of a new campaign, Great Actions Leave a Mark, www.greatactions.ca. The campaign showcases through artistic photos and video, the stories and scars (the mark) from 39 living organ donors and transplant recipients across Canada.

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEPHROLOGY STRONGLY SUPPORTS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF TRANSPLANT SYSTEM

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) supports efforts by Congress to improve the US transplant system. Today, the Senate Finance Committee will conduct an oversight hearing, A System in Need of Repair: Addressing Organizational Failures of the U.S.’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).

Mayo Clinic study confirms living kidney donor surgery is low risk for most patients

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.

“Lungs in a Box” Now Offered at Northwestern Medicine

Due to COVID-19 and a rapidly expanding list of conditions for which lung transplantation can be lifesaving, the need for new organs is growing. However, there’s a global shortage of donated lungs, which results in numerous deaths among patients on the waitlist. To help expand the donor pool, Northwestern Medicine is now using a device from XVIVO called XPS™ which is used for ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) – nicknamed “lungs in a box” – to rescue potentially viable lungs and those initially deemed “unacceptable” for transplant. Out of all solid organs, lungs have the lowest utilization, with only one in five donated lungs getting transplanted.

Expert Alert: 5 ways patients who are immunocompromised can protect themselves from COVID-19

As families prepare to gather later this month for Thanksgiving, it is important for patients who are immunocompromised to take extra steps to protect themselves from becoming infected with COVID-19. People who are immunocompromised have weakened immune systems, which means they have a higher risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19.

World-first COVID vaccine booster randomized clinical trial in transplant patients proves third shot is very effective

The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo.
The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group – after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

World-first COVID vaccine booster randomized clinical trial in transplant patients proves third shot is very effective

The study enrolled 120 transplant patients between May 25th and June 3rd. None of them had COVID previously and all of them had received two doses of the Moderna vaccine. Half of the participants received a third shot of the vaccine (at the 2-month mark after their second dose) and the other half received placebo. The primary outcome was based on antibody level greater than 100 U/ml against the spike protein of the virus. In the placebo group – after three doses (where the third dose was placebo), the response rate was only 18% whereas in the Moderna three-dose group, the response rate was 55%.

Monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19 safe, effective for transplant patients

Treating transplant patients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 with monoclonal antibodies is safe and helps prevent serious illness, according to a Mayo Clinic study recently published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. These results are especially important because transplant patients who are infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of severe illness and death.

Announcing Virtual Press Conference for Experimental Biology 2021 Meeting

Reporters are invited to join a live Q&A discussion of exciting research announcements at the forefront of the life sciences during a virtual press conference for the Experimental Biology (EB) 2021 meeting. The press conference will be held online from 1–1:45 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 26, 2021 (RSVP by Friday, April 23).

Reverse-order heart-liver transplant helps prevent rejection for highly sensitized patients

Patients with high levels of antibodies face major challenges getting a transplant. These highly sensitized patients have a higher risk of death while waiting for suitable organs. But there is new hope for highly sensitized patients in need of a combined heart and liver transplant, thanks to an innovative surgical approach at Mayo Clinic.

Lung, Heart, Kidney and Liver Transplant Programs Rank among Nation’s Best

UC San Diego Health’s lung, heart, kidney and liver transplant programs rank at the top nationally in the latest biannual Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) report. Innovative treatment and multi-disciplinary care contribute to the high rankings for one-year survival outcomes.

Synthetic Biology and Machine Learning Speed the Creation of Lab-Grown Livers

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have combined synthetic biology with a machine learning algorithm to create human liver organoids with blood and bile handling systems. When implanted into mice with failing livers, the lab-grown replacement livers extended life.

Mayo Clinic heart transplant program recognized for top patient outcomes

The Mayo Clinic heart transplant program in Arizona has been recognized as one of the top transplant programs in the U.S. based on quality and patient outcomes. The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a national medical database that evaluates solid organ transplantation in the U.S., has reported that the Mayo program has achieved the top long-term outcomes in the country.