Transplantation News

Editor's note: this story has been updated with a correction on the percent of offers of living donors accepted by transplant centers. That percentage has improved from 15% in  2007 to 50% today.

There are many people who have made a difference in donating organs to others in need. Here are three stories from those who made the decision.

Several years ago, I covered the National Kidney Foundation’s U.S. Transplant Games for the first time. Held in Orlando at the ABC-TV Sports Stadium there, the Olympic-style event brought together transplant recipients from around the country to compete in sports like tennis, bicycling, softball, golf, table tennis, etc.

As the debate over the Affordable Care Act continues, one piece of legislation is offering simple steps to address a growing health concern, the Living Donor Protection Act of 2017. The bill was introduced in the House on March 1 by Representatives Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash.

Certain white blood cells play an important role in bringing BK polyomavirus under control after kidney transplantation. The results of a research group at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel could contribute to improving control of immunosuppression, avoiding transplant rejection and developing relevant vaccines.

A new study indicates that the success of a kidney transplant may rely in part on a kidney donor's weight and sex, factors that are not typically considered when choosing a recipient for a deceased donor kidney. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, suggest that changes may be needed to current immunology-based protocols that match donors and recipients.

On March 1, Representatives Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., introduced the Living Donor Protection Act of 2017, to protect the rights of living organ donors.

Researchers have uncovered a higher risk of death in black vs. white children with kidney failure over the last two decades that seems to be mediated by differences in access to kidney transplantation. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Age cut-offs for deceased organ donors prevent quality kidneys from being available to patients, according to a study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Even kidneys from donors older than 80 years of age can function for years after transplantation, the study found.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease develop at elevated rates in older kidney transplant recipients and may threaten the health of their transplanted organ as well as their own survival, according to study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).