Transplantation News

A new preference-based measure assessing seven domains of health-related quality of life may offer “significant advantages” for nephrology clinical research and care compared with traditional patient-reported outcome measures.

Following the June update that allowed for a lower dose of Regeneron’s antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19, the FDA has again expanded emergency use authorization, this time allowing for its use as post-exposure prophylaxis.

The National Kidney Foundation has released a position paper consisting of recommendations for expanding access to transplantation for individuals with kidney failure.

Following kidney transplant, patients with Fabry disease had higher mortality rates than those without the disease. However, among patients on dialysis, those with Fabry disease had better mortality rates than patients without the disease.

Kidney transplant activity decreased dramatically after the initial surge of COVID-19 cases at the beginning of the pandemic, according to a study. Researchers also found discard rates increased due to a lack of a recipient.

There was a recent increase in “unexpected” hepatitis B virus infections among liver transplant recipients who received organs from donors who tested negative, according to findings published in MMWR.

Research from Johns Hopkins showed that although high symptom burden was linked to mortality for those awaiting kidney transplantation, survivors experienced improvement in nine of 11 symptoms within 3 months following the procedure.

Research from the Cleveland Clinic showed less than half of patients who might reap the most benefits from kidney transplantation, deemed high priority based on estimated post-transplant survival score, were placed on the waitlist.

A study from Israel, where vaccination for COVID reached most of the population older than 16 years, showed older patients, post-transplant patients and those with advanced liver disease produced less immune response to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Patients with kidney failure who received the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech showed varying degrees of antibody and T-cell responses, with those on dialysis achieving greater protection from the vaccine than transplant recipients.