Interesting news article from the UK. I found this article on the New Organ Facebook page.
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Tag Archives: transplant advances
TRANSPLANT ADVANCES: FIRST DRUG TRIAL FOR LUNG TRANSPLANT REJECTION
I am cautiously optimistic. I admit I was very excited when I came across this press release that was posted to The Lung Transplant Foundation‘s Facebook page. As usual, I try to temper my excitement with the reality we won’t know what’s possible for awhile or if this is just a step in the right direction.
I realize the drug is only in Phase II trials now, but it does show promise. Continue reading
Johns Hopkins Performs World’s First HIV-To-HIV Organ Transplant
The HOPE Act was a big move in reversing the stance of disqualifying donors & patients alike because of HIV Status. The passage of this act in 2013, led to changes & developing safeguards for transplants in the HIV population.
“Before this act at least 500-600 lives were lost per year because both donors & patients were disqualified from organ transplantation. ” (A statistic taken from this article.)
TRANSPLANT ADVANCES: NEW START-UP BUILDS ON EVLP TECHNOLOGY
It’s been quite a while since I talked about ex-vivo lung perfusion, but this was an interesting advance I saw posted a few days ago from the Pulmonary Fibrosis News website.
This actually improves on existing ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) technology by using gene & cell therapy to rehabilitate & repair lungs that would otherwise be unsuitable for transplant.
This Business Wire press release gives more information on the companies involved & this exciting news.
Hopefully the successes of these companies in Toronto will soon be crossing the border to us soon.
Interesting But Alarming News
This was a difficult alert to read. However, I commend my center for looking into such issues & challenging transplant centers as a whole to do better by their patients.
While this was a liver transplant based study, I am sure livers are not the only organ that are affected by such practices.
EX-VIVO Lung Perfusion In Action: Worthwhile Videos
In my first week blogging I talked about an advancement called ex-vivo lung perfusion, or “lung in a box” technology as a way to make “marginal lungs” viable for transplant. For all you science geeks like me, here’s a video of it in action from an actual operating table. Warning: Viewing is not for the squeamish.
Transplant Advances: Ice-Free Preservation – A Potential New Standard?
In the early days of my blog, I mentioned the warm perfusion preservation technique, ex-vivo. Yet, this advance & the technology is not available to all patients & all centers just yet. Also, not all organs can ideally be preserved via a warm perfusion method. Others actually benefit from what’s called cold perfusion, or essentially to “be on ice”. Which was typically the way all organs were preserved up until ex-vivo technology came to be a reality or looked at as a possible option. Continue reading
