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People With HIV Can Now Receive Livers, Kidneys From HIV-Positive Donors

People with HIV can now receive a potentially life-saving kidney or liver from a donor who is also infected with the virus, according to new rules announced Tuesday by the Biden administration.

According to an announcement from the Department of Heal...

Woman Receives World's First Robotic Double-Lung Transplant

A 57-year-old woman with COPD has received the world's first fully robotic double lung transplant.

The breakthrough surgery was performed in October at NYU Langone Health in New York City by Dr. Stephan...

Kidney Transplants Safe When Donor, Recipient Both HIV-Positive

People living with HIV who need a kidney can rest assured that outcomes are similar whether their kidney donor was also HIV-positive or not, a new study finds.

One- and three-year survival was the same, regardless of the donor's HIV status, as were the rate of serious side effects, such as infection, fever and organ rejection, said a team reporting Oct. 16 in the New England Journal o...

Long-Term Outcomes Good for Face Transplant Recipients, Study Finds

There have been 50 face transplants performed in 11 countries since the surgery was pioneered back in 2005, and long-term outcomes have been favorable, a new review finds.

In total, 85% of people receiving these complex surgeries survived five years and 74% were still alive a decade after transplant completion, researchers report.

When the numbers focused on deaths linked to the tra...

He's Doing Great a Year After World's First Eye and Partial Face Transplant

Key Takeaways

  • The recipient of the world’s first combined whole-eye and partial face transplant is doing well more than a year out from his groundbreaking surgery, NYU Langone doctors report.

    Aaron James, a 46-year-old military veteran from Arkansas, says over the past year his new face has allowed him to enjoy things others take for granted.

    N...

Uterus Transplants Are Leading to Healthy Pregnancies

Uterine transplants are relatively rare and recent -- the first was performed in 2011, and to date a little more than 100 transplants have been conducted worldwide.

However, a new study finds that these procedures are often successful, leading to pregnancies and live births in 14 out of the 20 patients assessed.

"A successfully transplanted uterus is capable of functioning at least ...

Nation's Heart Transplant List Is Failing Sick Kids, Study Suggests

The U.S. heart transplant list for children isn’t accurately ranking the sickest kids highest, making it more likely they may die while waiting for a donor heart, a new study claims.

Some very sick children were categorized as category 2, the lowest of the three categories of urgency on the list, while others who were not as sick had a 1A “most urgent” status, researche...

Second Recipient of Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Has Died

The second person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig has died, surgeons at NYU Langone Health announced Tuesday.

The 54-year-old patient, Lisa Pisano, had both kidney failure and heart failure. She received the pig kidney April 12, eight days after she had a mechanical ...

Doctors Perform Larynx Transplant in Cancer Patient

For years, Marty Kedian had been without a voice.

Kedian, who hails from Haverhill, Mass., has undergone dozens of surgeries while being treated for a rare form of laryngeal cancer.

As a result, he was robbed of his voice -- along with the ability to swallow and breathe normally.

"I was alive, but I wasn't living," Kedian said. "I love to talk to people everywhere I go, and I ...

Unhealthy Microbiome May Raise Death Risk After Organ Transplant

People with an "unhealthy"gut microbiome appear to be more likely to die following an organ transplant, a new study warns.

These gut microbe patterns are specifically associated with deaths from cancer and infection, regardless of the organ that's been transplanted, res...

Surgeons Perform a U.S. First: Kidney Transplant in Awake Patient

John Nicolas was deep into kidney transplant surgery when he decided to ask his doctors if they'd started yet.

"At one point during surgery, I recall asking, 'Should I be expecting the spinal anesthesia to kick in?'"Nicolas, 28, recalled in a news release. "They had already been doing a lot of work and I had been completely oblivious to that fact. Truly, no sensation whatsoever."

Ni...

Transplanted Pig Kidney Is Removed From Woman Who Received It

A woman who was the second person to ever receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig has had the transplanted organ removed due to complications linked to a heart pump she is using, her doctors said.

Lisa Pisano, 54, remains hospitalized and has been transferred back to kidney dialysis after having the transplanted organ removed.

The organ, transplanted 47 days earlier, had n...

Cancer & COVID Drove Him to Double-Lung Transplant

Chicago resident Arthur "Art"Gillespie fell ill in early March 2020 with COVID, after he and his father went to visit an uncle in a nursing facility.

"I was hospitalized for 12 days with a high fever and cough, and during that time, they were taking scans of my lungs, which showed stage 1 lung cancer on my right lung,"Gillespie, 56, recalled in a news release. "I had no symptoms of lung c...

First Pig Kidney Recipient Dies Almost Two Months After Transplant

Rick Slayman, the first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig, has died nearly two months after having the historic surgery.

In a statement released Saturday, Slayman's family said the...

Small Pump May Let Kids Stay Home As They Await New Heart

A small, implantable heart pump could help children await heart transplants at home rather than languishing in a hospital, according to a new study.

The pump is surgically attached to augment the heart's blood-pumping action, giving more time to find a donor heart, researchers said.

The pump worked well for seven children participating in a small-scale early trial of the device.

...

Patient Gets First-Ever Pig Kidney Transplant Plus Heart Pump

New Jersey native Lisa Pisano was staring down the end of her days.

The 54-year-old had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, but several chronic medical conditions excluded her as a candidate for heart and kidney transplants.

"All I want is the opportunity to have a better ...

First Pig Kidney Transplant Patient Discharged From Hospital

Rick Slayman, the first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig, headed home Wednesday after faring so well that he was released from the hospital just two weeks after his groundbreaking surgery.

"This moment -- leaving the hospital today with one of the cleanest bills of health I've had in a long time -- is one I wished would come for many years. Now, it's ...

Doctor Gets First U.S. Lung-Liver Transplant for Advanced Lung Cancer

Dr. Gary Gibbon didn't have long to live.

A harsh cocktail of chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy for his advanced lung cancer had permanently destroyed his lungs and caused irreparable damage to his liver.

But Gibbon, a 69-year-old resident of Santa Monica,...

Black Men Less Likely to Receive Heart Transplants Than White Men or Women

The odds in the United States that a well-functioning donor heart will go to a Black man are lower than for white transplant candidates of either gender, new research shows.

The news is troubling, since "Black patients have a two to three times greater risk of developing

Surgeons Implant Pig Kidney Into First Living Human Patient

THURSDAY, March 21, 2024 (HealthDay news) -- For the first time ever, doctors have transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a human suffering from advanced kidney failure.

Such pig kidneys, altered to lower the risk of rejection and disease, have been successfully placed into monkeys and brain-dead human donor bodies.

But Rick Slayman, 62, is the first living patient to rec...

Race, Ethnicity Plays Role in Liver Transplant Survival

Researchers hope findings from a new study of liver transplant patients will lead to improved interventions for those from racial and ethnic minority groups.

The study -- led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas -- found the risk of dying while waiting for a liver transplant was higher among patients from four minority groups. Their risk for a failed transplant was a...

Weight-Loss Surgery Could Be Lifesaver for Folks Needing New Kidneys

Weight-loss surgery may help patients struggling with obesity and kidney failure become eligible for a lifesaving transplant, researchers report.

Obesity is a key reason why some kidney patients are turned down for a transplant.

But weight-loss surgery "not only helps in reducing the patients' weight to a level where they can safely receive a transplant, but also addresses the broad...

Treatment Used on Donated Hearts May Be Useless, Even Harmful: Study

A technique doctors use to preserve donated organs is actually doing no good, and might even be harming the organs, a new study reports.

Physicians routinely dose deceased organ donors with thyroid hormones, in a bid to preserve heart function and keep the donors' organs healthy and viable.

But thyroid hormone treatment made no significant difference in the number of hearts successf...

Man Maimed by Electric Shock Receives First-Ever Face Transplant That Includes New Eye

An Arkansas man maimed by a massive electrical shock to his face has successfully received the world's first whole-eye and partial face transplant.

In a 21-hour surgery performed in May, a NYU Langone Health surgical team transplanted an entire left eye and the portion of a face from a single donor onto Aaron James, a 46-year-old military veteran from Arkansas who survived a work-related,...

Double-Lung Transplant, Breast Implants Save Life of Man Who Battled Vaping-Linked Illness

"Davey"Bauer hovered on the precipice of death, his lungs damaged by vaping and congested by antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Doctors saved his life with a jury-rigged artificial lung, a prompt double-lung transplant"¦ and a set of DD breast implants.

Doctors at Northwestern Medicine crafted an artificial lung to keep Bauer, 34, alive after removing lungs so heavily infected that "t...

Second Person to Receive Pig Heart Dies Six Weeks After Transplant

The second person to ever receive a transplanted pig heart has died.

Lawrence Faucette, 58, got the transplant just six weeks earlier at the University of Maryland Medical Center in an experimental procedure.

Unfortunately, the heart had been showing signs of rejection in the days before his death, CNN reported.

  • Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
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  • November 1, 2023
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  • Donor's Immune Cells Could Help Transplant Recipients Avoid Organ Rejection

    A liver transplant can give people a new lease on life, but at the cost of lifelong immune-suppressing medication and its risks. Now an innovative approach to reduce, or possibly eliminate, certain patients' reliance on those drugs is showing early promise.

    The tactic is aimed at priming a transplant recipient's immune system to better tolerate liver tissue from a living donor. A week bef...

    Monkey Given Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Still Alive Two Years Later

    Two years after a gene-edited pig kidney was transplanted into a monkey, researchers report the monkey is still alive.

    "We're the only group in the field to comprehensively address safety and efficacy of our donor organ with these edits,"said study co-author

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • October 13, 2023
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  • Surgeons Perform Transplant of Gene-Tweaked Pig Heart Into Second Patient

    A second human patient has received a genetically altered pig heart as he battles the ravages of end-stage heart disease.

    The 58-year-old man, Lawrence Faucette, received the pig organ at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

    The medical team was the same one that performed the first pig transplant with another patient in January 2022.

    "We are once again off...

    Implant Can Warn Weeks Early That Transplanted Organ Will Be Rejected

    Receiving an organ transplant can be a nerve-wracking, if lifesaving, affair, said Dr. Joaquin Brieva, a kidney transplant recipient.

    "Within two days of my transplant, my kidney function was back to normal, but then you worry about the possibility of ki...

    In a First, Scientists Grow Human Kidneys Inside Pigs

    For the first time ever, a solid humanized organ has been grown from scratch in an animal -- a first step in a process that could potentially solve organ shortages and save countless lives.

    Chinese researchers grew partially human early-stage kidneys inside embryonic pigs, using a variety of genetic engineering techniques, a new report reveals.

    "This study demonstrates proof-of-prin...

    In Primate Study, Antibody Treatment Prevents Organ Rejection After Transplant

    A new study in non-human primates shows potential for using a manmade monoclonal antibody to help prevent organ rejection after a transplant.

    The antibody was successful in promoting graft survival after kidney and pancreatic islet cell transplantations, according to the research.

    This clears a path for this new monoclonal antibody to move forward in human clinical trials, the rese...

    Getting His Life Back: Regaining Strength After a Triple-Organ Transplant

    Valance Sams Sr. believes that he has experienced "a miracle."

    Sams, now 46, underwent a triple organ transplant in the spring of 2023, making him one of fewer than 50 people in the United States to ever receive three new organs via transplantation.

    He received a new heart, kidney and liver during a 20-hour operation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that involved around...

    Improved Pig-to-Human Kidney Transplants Mark a Major Advance

    Genetically engineered pig kidneys are nearing the point where they could provide a government-approved, sustainable supply of organs for sick humans awaiting a transplant, a pair of new studies argue.

    A lightly modified pig kidney has continued to function more than a month in a brain-dead human donor kept alive on a ventilator, according to an ongoing study conducted at NYU Langone Heal...

    'Walking Miracles': Born With Lungs Reversed, They Suffered Until Getting Double-Organ Transplants

    Dennis Deer woke from surgery in utter disbelief that he was breathing normally.

    He'd been on supplemental oxygen for two years, and "I didn't know what it was like not to have something on my face,"said Deer, 51, a Chicago-area politician and psychologist.

    "I immediately said, 'Where is my oxygen?' And my wife said to me, 'Well, you don't need the oxygen anymore,'" Deer recalled.

    Many Hospitals Ignore Directives of Organ Transplant Waiting Lists: Study

    Many transplant centers routinely practice "list-diving,"when the top candidate among potential organ recipients is skipped in favor of someone further down the list, new research shows.

    The top candidate is ranked that way based on an objective algorithm using age, waiting time and other factors, while choosing someone else happens with little oversight or transparency. And that may harm...

    New Approach to Transplants Could Boost Supply of Donor Hearts

    A new transplant method that "reanimates" donor hearts appears safe and effective, a new clinical trial has found -- in an advance that could substantially expand the supply of donor hearts available in the United States.

    The trial tested an approach that allows doctors to transplant hearts from donors who have succumbed to "circulatory death" -- meaning the heart has stopped beating. Tra...

    Cool Storage Could Keep Lungs Ready for Transplant Longer

    Storing donor lungs at cool -- but not near freezing -- temperatures can markedly increase the length of time the organs can live outside the human body, a new study suggests.

    Lungs stored at 50 degrees Fahrenheit remain healthy and viable for transplant up to four times longer than those stored at the current standard temperature of 39 degrees, according to new clinical trial results.

    Debunking Myths About Organ Donation

    Far more people need an organ transplant than there are organs available.

    It doesn't have to be that way.

    Dr. Johnny Hong, chief of transplantation at Penn State Health's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, explored some of the myths about organ donation.

    "We have an organ shor...

    Feds Propose Overhaul of U.S. Organ Transplant System

    A single nonprofit has what amounts to a monopoly over all organ transplants performed in the United States, but the federal government said Wednesday that it plans to change that.

    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which has contracted with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to run the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network for 37 years, announced ...

    New Lease on Life for Two Lung Cancer Patients After Pioneering Double-Lung Transplant

    Retired nurse Tannaz Ameli was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last winter. When chemotherapy failed, her doctors recommended hospice care.

    But Ameli, of Minneapolis, had other ideas. She and her husband sought out a pioneering medical team at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Today, she is a survivor of a double-lung transplant -- just the second this team of specialists has succ...

    Scientists Devise Way to Keep Donor Hearts Viable Longer

    Doctors have discovered a way to extend the short shelf life of donor hearts, which could hopefully make more of the organs available to desperate recipients.

    Valproic acid (Depakote), which is approved to treat seizures, boosts production of an enzyme that increases the length of time donated hearts can be stored and transported.

    The drug also could improve the hearts' function aft...

    Massachusetts Bill Would Let Prisoners Donate Organs in Exchange for Shorter Sentence

    Massachusetts legislators have proposed a bill that would allow prison inmates to donate their organs or bone marrow as a way to trim the length of their sentence.

    While some experts wonder about the ethics of such a law and whether it would even be allowed under federal law, a Democratic sponsor of the bill,

    There May Be a Better Way to Allocate Precious Donor Lungs for Transplant

    A new way of allocating donor lungs that eliminates geographical restrictions could save more lives, new research suggests.

    In early 2023, the current U.S. system, which looks for compatible candidates within a fixed radius, will be replaced by the Composite Allocation Score. The new score will prioritize a candidate's medical needs.

    "The importance of removing the geographical barr...

    Need for Organ Transplants Surges at Big Motorcycle Rallies: Study

    Once a year, giant motorcycle rallies ride into places like Daytona Beach, Fla., and Sturgis, S.D., bringing hundreds of thousands of people, an economic boost -- and a wave of crash-related deaths.

    That means more organs available for donation and the need to be prepared, according to a

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • November 29, 2022
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  • 69 vs. 70: Bias Against Older Organ Donors May Be Costing Lives

    The difference between age 69 and age 70 is, of course, just a single year.

    Yet, organizations that receive organs for transplant patients are less likely to choose one from the older donor, a new study finds.

    American organ procurement organization...

    Heart's Electrical Signals Changed in First Pig-to-Human Cardiac Transplant

    Less than a year after the first-ever transplant of a pig heart into a human patient, doctors are reporting that the heart showed unexpected changes in its electrical system before the recipient ultimately died.

    The changes are not believed to have contributed to the patient's death. But experts said that the observation will help in preparing for any such transplants in the future.

    Hearts From Donors Who Had COVID Are Safe for Transplant

    A person with heart failure in dire need of a new heart may have faced delays in getting one during the pandemic when potential donors tested positive for COVID-19.

    As some centers began accepting these hearts for transplant anyway, data from a new study shows that...

    Some Donor Livers Keep Working for 100 Years: Study

    Some human livers are tougher than others, lasting more than 100 cumulative years between the organ's original host and a transplant recipient, a new study discovers.

    Understanding what makes these livers so resilient could help improve the donor pool by paving the way ...

    Scientists Create Synthetic Mouse Embryo With Brain, Beating Heart

    Using only mouse stem cells, British researchers report they have created synthetic embryos that form a brain, a beating heart and other organs.

    The stem cells organized themselves until they developed beating hearts and the foundations of the brain and yolk sacs where the embryo...