Kidney Transplants

Both parents donate kidneys to their sick daughter

Margaret Wilde — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:11:00 -0500

Keeley Beytell-Heron, who was the youngest baby ever to have a kidney transplant, is now 20 years old. Her first transplanted kidney was gradually rejected by her body and at 12 she was given one of her mother's kidneys. Now that it too is failing, her father is going to give her one of his.

Gene mutation increases drug toxicity, rejection risk in pediatric kidney transplants

harminka — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:58:03 -0600

Screening for mutations in a gene that helps the body metabolize a kidney transplant anti-rejection drug may predict which children are at higher risk for side effects, including compromised white blood cell count or organ rejection, according to new research.

Psychological impact found in adolescents with kidney transplants

harminka — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:00:33 -0600

A new study describes the psychological profile of adolescents who have received kidney transplants and compares them to those of healthy peers. The findings reveal a significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric conditions (depression, phobia, ADHD), educational impairment and social isolation among adolescents who had undergone a transplant.

New tools can better predict successful kidney transplant outcomes

harminka — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:29:04 -0600

Kidney transplants are the best available therapy for end stage renal disease. Because of the shortage of deceased organ donors, living donor transplantation is rapidly growing and has the advantage of improved outcomes over deceased donor transplants.

Kidney transplant survival can be long-term for people with HIV

harminka — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:17:15 -0600

A Johns Hopkins study finds that HIV-positive kidney transplant recipients could have the same one-year survival rates for themselves and their donor organs as those without HIV, provided certain risk factors for transplant failure are recognized and tightly managed.

Older women less likely than men to be listed for kidney transplants

harminka — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:11:51 -0600

A Johns Hopkins transplant surgeon has found strong evidence that women over 45 are significantly less likely to be placed on a kidney transplant list than their equivalent male counterparts, even though women who receive a transplant stand an equal chance of survival.

Implications for decreasing need for immunosuppressants

harminka — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:00:29 -0600

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an association between the genetics of donor-recipient matches in kidney transplants and complications during the first week after transplantation.

New protocol streamlines therapy that makes more kidney transplants possible

harminka — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:20:20 -0500

A new therapy developed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center improves transplant rates and outcomes for patients awaiting living- and deceased-donor kidney transplantation, according to a study published in the July 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Kidney transplants less successful at night

harminka — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:17:52 -0500

Kidney transplants should be carried out during the day if possible. At least this is the conclusion suggested by a survey just published by urologists and internists at the University of Bonn (Transplantation Proceedings, vol. 40, p. 1341 ff.).

Researchers design model for automated, wearable artificial kidney

harminka — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:54:40 -0500

Two researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have developed a design for an automated, wearable artificial kidney, or AWAK, that avoids the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis.

Male kidneys for men only?

harminka — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:37:20 -0500

New analysis of the Heidelberg “Collaborative Transplant Study”: Men and Women benefit from gender specific transplants / Publication in “The Lancet”. The gender of donor and recipient plays a larger role in kidney transplants than previously assumed. Female donor kidneys do not function as well in men – due to their smaller size.

Hidden heart condition increases risk of death in patients waiting for kidney transplants

harminka — Fri, 16 May 2008 07:16:04 -0500

An often asymptomatic condition—systolic dysfunction, or decreased pumping of the heart—poses an increased risk of death for patients on kidney transplant waiting lists, according to a study appearing in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The findings reveal that a clinical indicator beyond well-known risk factors for cardiovascular mortality should be considered when caring for patients waiting for kidney donations.