Feature Channels: Transplantation

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Contrary to long-established dogma, the eye can host an active immune response that could both heal injury and contribute to loss of vision.

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Houston Methodist Hospital performed its 1000th heart transplant. The hospital's first was performed by Dr. Michael DeBakey in 1968 as part of the world's first multi-organ transplant. The patient is a 23-year old man who suffers from Becker's Muscular Dystrophy, a rare form of the disease that damages the heart.

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Despite efforts over the past two decades to increase the number of black and Hispanic patients receiving kidney transplants from related or unrelated living donors, these racial/ethnic minority patients are still much less likely to undergo such transplants than white patients, Johns Hopkins researchers report. In fact, the investigators say, the disparities have worsened in the last 20 years.

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Parents’ major concerns often included misunderstandings about medical care, potential suffering and cost related to child organ donation, new national poll finds.

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140 patients received a life-saving kidney or combined kidney-pancreas transplant in a year

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Temple University Hospital (TUH) performed 131 lung transplants in calendar year 2017, making it the number 1 volume program in the nation according to data just released by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

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In a commentary published in the Jan. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, UC Davis researcher William Murphy expressed cautious optimism about efforts to genetically engineer hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to temporarily resist cell death during transplantation. While these gene therapy approaches could dramatically improve patient outcomes, Murphy argues that their risks must be carefully studied in diverse models.

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After watching a brief educational video, members of the public are more likely to say they would be willing to donate a facial transplant to a severely disfigured patient, reports a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

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Tyler Williamson went to TEDx Birmingham’s 2017 event in March expecting to be inspired and to network and make new connections with fellow attendees. What the 27-year-old did not anticipate was that inspiration would lead him to volunteer to become a living kidney donor just seven months later.

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Three months after receiving a kidney transplant, Holly Miyagawa was back on the beach playing volleyball. That was 17 years ago. Since then, the Hermosa Beach, CA, resident has gone on to medal in volleyball at the World Transplant Games and the Transplant Games of America. This New Year's Day, she'll accompany the Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, representing Cedars-Sinai, where she received her transplant.

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Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center is proud to announce that it has expanded services to include cochlear implant surgery to help individuals with moderate to profound hearing loss who are not receiving enough benefit from a hearing aid or aids. Cochlear implants replace the function of damaged inner ears and are designed to mimic natural hearing.

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• In a trial of kidney transplant recipients with late antibody-mediated rejection, treatment with bortezomib, a type of proteasome inhibitor, failed to improve the function of transplanted kidneys and prevent immunologic tissue injury. • Bortezomib treatment was also linked with gastrointestinal and hematologic toxicity.

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Around 17% of American adults have chronic kidney disease (CKD), and the rate of prevalence is higher for US Veterans. CKD, if not treated appropriately, can ultimately lead to kidney failure requiring either dialysis or a transplant.

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A study by researchers at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida has found that barriers to patients receiving stem cell therapy as part of their treatment for multiple myeloma include income, education, insurance status and access to care at an academic center or facility that treats a high volume of patients.

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NYU Langone launches a new heart transplant program.

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Immunotherapy agents known as checkpoint inhibitors have shown considerable promise in patients with hematologic cancers who relapse after a transplant with donor stem cells. Preliminary results from the first clinical trial in these patients of one such agent – nivolumab – indicate that along with signs of effectiveness, it also produced significant side effects at the dose initially studied. The findings indicate a need for further clinical trials in this group before being considered for off-label use with these patients, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators report.

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Results from a phase 2 clinical trial, presented by Seattle Children’s Research Institute at the 59th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, show that the drug Abatacept (Orencia) nearly eliminated life-threatening severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

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The hope given from a deceased donor, and a sibling, give two kidney transplant recipients a chance to live

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• In an analysis of pairs of kidneys from the same donor in which 1 kidney was used but the other was discarded, the kidneys that were used tended to perform well. • The majority of discarded kidneys could have potentially been transplanted with good outcomes.

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2-year-old Children's Hospital Los Angeles patient Pierce Kelly beats leukemia thanks to a stem cell donor in France and inspires thousands of potential donors.