A study led by Johns Hopkins researchers has linked the immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) to an increased risk of central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma in solid organ transplant patients
While recovering from a double lung transplant, outdoorsman Michael Olson set two goals for himself: return to Canada,where he had taken 57 canoe and fishing trips, and catch a big northern. He accomplished both goals, in memorable fashion.
When it comes to treating blood cancers like leukemia and lymphomas, new research shows that a half-matched donor bone marrow transplant may be just as good as a full match, in the first apples to apples type comparison of its kind.
More than half of nurses who work with organ transplant patients in the United States experience high levels of emotional exhaustion, a primary sign of burnout, according to a study published by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.
In addition, 52% of the nurses surveyed reported feeling low levels of personal accomplishment in their life-saving work, according to findings published recently in “Progress in Transplantation,” a journal of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
Infection by virus cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major complication following kidney transplantation. CMV infection has been associated with increased kidney transplant failure and reduced patient survival. However, a new clinical study finds that age may be more important for long-term transplant and patient outcome.
Surgical teams took part in a record-setting day of organ transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Surgeons on the medical staff performed nine organ transplants on seven patients in one calendar day. The successful day of surgeries broke the previous Texas record of eight organ transplants performed in one calendar day, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Voriconazole, a prescription drug commonly used to treat fungal infections in lung transplant recipients, significantly increases the risk for skin cancer and even death, according to a new study by UCSF researchers.
• Among kidney transplant recipients, patients with mostly IgG3 donor-specific HLA antibodies had a higher likelihood of organ rejection soon after transplantation.
• If rejection occurred in those with mostly IgG4 antibodies, it was usually much later after transplantation.
• Most donors and recipients support swapping health information before kidney transplantation, but there was low interest in sharing social information.
• Both donors and recipients wanted the transplant team involved in information disclosure.
• Most donors and recipients did not think the recipient had a right to know why a donor was excluded from donating.
The mechanisms that allow the liver to repair and regenerate itself have long been a matter of debate. Now researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a population of liver cells that are better at regenerating liver tissue than ordinary liver cells, or hepatocytes. The study is the first to identify these so-called “hybrid hepatocytes,” and show that they are able to regenerate liver tissue without giving rise to cancer.
Organ transplant recipients are twice as likely to develop melanoma as people who do not undergo a transplant, and three times more likely to die of the dangerous skin cancer, suggests new research led by a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health student.
Mild hypothermia in deceased organ donors significantly reduces delayed graft function in kidney transplant recipients when compared to normal body temperature, according to UCSF researchers and collaborators, a finding that could lead to an increase in the availability of kidneys for transplant.
Following several years of research and collaboration, physicians and engineers at Johns Hopkins and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center say they have developed a computer platform that provides rapid, real-time feedback before and during facial transplant surgery, which may someday improve face-jaw-teeth alignment between donor and recipient.
Mayo Clinic is announcing results of a study on the effectiveness of left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD) in treating patients with a form of cardiomyopathy called restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM).
Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) joined with colleagues from Penn Medicine recently to complete the world’s first bilateral hand transplant on a child. Earlier this month, the surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto eight-year-old Zion Harvey who, several years earlier, had undergone amputation of his hands and feet and a kidney transplant following a serious infection.
The average wait time for a kidney transplant is five years and there are more than 100,000 people on the waiting list. However, there are thousands of viable hepatitis C-positive kidneys that are discarded each year solely because they’re infected. A new perspective paper in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that “new antiviral therapies with cure rates exceeding 95 percent should prompt transplant-community leaders to view HCV (hepatitis C virus)-positive organs as a valuable opportunity for transplant candidates with or without pre-existing HCV infection.”
A deceased donor liver has been preserved and kept healthy outside the body in a device that mimics the body’s physiological functions and successfully transplanted into a human, for the first time in Ontario.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed and are testing an alternative to liver transplantation called the Spheroid Reservoir Bioartificial Liver that can support healing and regeneration of the injured liver, and improve outcomes and reduce mortality rates for patients with acute liver failure.
As bone marrow and lung stem cells are quite similar, the Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Yair Reisner investigated whether transplant methods used for bone marrow might also work for treating lung diseases such cystic fibrosis and asthma. When mice with lung damage were given the new stem cell treatment, their lungs healed and breathing improved.
Organ transplant rejection in hosts that were previously tolerant may not be permanent. Using a mouse model of cardiac transplantation, scientists from the University of Chicago found that immune tolerance can spontaneously recover after infection-triggered rejection, and that hosts can accept subsequent transplants as soon as a week after.
The McMaster team recruited 75 patients with a flare up of their ulcerative colitis and randomized them to fecal transplant therapy given as an enema derived from stool donated by an anonymous healthy donor, and placebo.
The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant program is participating in a nationwide clinical trial that analyzes outcomes after two common treatments: bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. The results could lead to wider access to transplants.
Two studies demonstrate that hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol and high triglycerides in the blood) caused by a high-fat diet accelerates heart-transplant rejection in mice. The researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine also found that simply feeding mice a high-fat diet increased organ rejection.
Ten years after undergoing a heart-lung transplant, Andrew Gaumer is looking forward to first Father’s Day. Andrew's wife gave birth to their first child on Mother's Day.
Aging can cause many changes to the body, including obesity and a loss of lean mass. Now, a group of University of Florida Health researchers has discovered that an existing drug reduces body fat and appetite in older rats, which has intriguing implications for aging humans.
A joint investigation including UT Southwestern Medical Center has found a molecule that may play a significant role in accelerating cell recovery following bone marrow transplants, liver disease, and colon disease.
In a study published in Science June 12, Case Western Reserve and University of Texas-Southwestern researchers detail how a new drug repaired damage to the colon, liver and bone marrow in animal models — even saving mice who otherwise would have died in a bone marrow transplantation model.
Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) is a potentially curative treatment for patients with leukemia or other life-threating blood diseases. With a goal of increasing survival rates, a research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) investigators verified patient outcome data submitted by more than 150 U.S. transplant centers over an 11-year period to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). The detailed investigation — published in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation — offers insight into different causes of death. The results of this genome-wide association study led to the development of a first-of-its-kind definition of specific causes of mortality after unrelated-donor, or allogeneic, BMT.
Older patients who received stem cells from younger, unrelated donors with higher numbers of so-called killer T cells (CD8 cells) had significantly reduced risk of disease relapse and improved survival compared to those who received stem-cells from donors with low numbers of CD8 cells, including older matched siblings.
Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: marijuana exposure in children, female viagra, botox for nerve pain, genetics, cancer and bone marrow transplants, stroke, dengue fever, and memory loss in epilepsy.
Bone marrow transplant and hematology specialist Hillard M. Lazarus, MD, Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine
Surgical teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and The University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center successfully transplanted, for the first time, a scalp and skull while performing kidney and pancreas transplants.
Surgical teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and The University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center successfully transplanted, for the first time, a scalp and skull while performing kidney and pancreas transplants.
Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center report progress in their goal to make use of the more than 2,600 kidneys that are donated each year, but must be discarded due to abnormalities and other factors. The scientists aim to “recycle” these organs to engineer tailor-made replacement kidneys for patients.
More than 123,000 Americans are currently waiting for lifesaving organ transplants, but 21 patients die each day because there aren't enough organs to go around. New research shows wide variation in the number of eligible organ donors whose loved ones consent to organ donation across the country. Donation consent rates are highest in the Midwest and lowest in New York State, according to a study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Kansas Hospital in the new issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.
Patients with liver cancer can be cured with a liver transplant. But because of the shortage of donated organs, these patients often die waiting for a liver. That’s because most transplant centers predominantly use livers from donors who die from brain death.
Lung transplant candidates who are about 5’3” or shorter have longer waiting times than taller candidates and are more likely to die within a year while waiting for a lung transplant, according to a study presented at the 2015 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
Obesity is a complicating factor for many surgical patients. In a recent study published in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that losing weight can have a positive impact on outcomes for lung transplant patients.
A study, published online ahead of print May 14 in the American Journal of Transplantation, revealed that there are nearly 400 HIV-positive potential organ donors who could be sources of donated organs annually for HIV-positive patients waiting for organ donations.
A fairly simple and ethical change in policy would greatly expand the nation’s organ pool while respecting autonomy, choice, and vulnerability of a deceased’s family or authorized caregiver, according to ethicists at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Research found no racial or ethnic disparities among patients who participate in the Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) Program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). The results were published in a recent issue of the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
An international team of gastroenterologists, pediatricians, natural products chemists, and veterinarians, working with zebrafish models and mouse cell cultures have discovered that a chemical found in Australian plants provides insights into the cause of a rare and debilitating disorder affecting newborns called biliary atresia, the most common indication for a liver transplant in children.
Mayo Clinic transplant researchers will present findings from nearly 20 studies at the American Transplant Congress in Philadelphia, Penn., on May 2-5. Mayo Clinic is nationally recognized for research and clinical success in transplantation, and performs over 1,000 solid organ transplants each year.
• Members of the public in Australia considered reimbursement and justifiable recompensation of costs related to organ donation to be legitimate ways of supporting living donors.
• Financial payment beyond reimbursement was regarded as morally reprehensible.