Transplantation News

Increasing kidney transplants remains a challenge in the United States but adopting successful practices by France and other European countries of accepting older organs could help, researchers said.

Adults with obesity receiving dialysis treatment who underwent bariatric surgery were 30% less likely to die of any cause and 82% more likely to undergo kidney transplantation at 5 years compared with similar adults receiving usual care.

For recipients with HIV, early steroid withdrawal was associated with increased odds of acute graft rejection 1 year after kidney transplantation, according to research presented at the American Transplant Congress.

For recipients with HIV, early steroid withdrawal was associated with increased odds of acute graft rejection 1 year after kidney transplantation, according to research presented at the American Transplant Congress.

Including adjustments for major complicating comorbidities in Medicare reimbursement policies for kidney transplantation could incentivize centers to utilize high risk kidneys, thereby increasing the number of transplants performed.

Minority patients, patients with diabetes and older patients showed the most improvement in graft survival in the United States from 1995 to 2017, a study shows.

Providing virtual postoperative follow-up for living kidney donors may be an effective alternative to traditional clinic care, according to a poster presented at the virtual American Transplant Congress.

A study of more than 300,000 kidney transplant recipients shows that BMI, often used by transplant programs to help determine eligibility, may have limited impact on outcomes.

Based on patient-reported outcome measures, patients on belatacept-based therapies had higher gains in quality of life 2 years after kidney transplantation than patients on tacrolimus-based regimens.

At the virtual American Transplant Congress, Emily Blumberg, MD, FAST, president of the American Society of Transplantation, discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the transplant community with challenges and opportunities.