Editor's Note In a first for Northwestern Medicine, surgeons performed a kidney transplant on an awake patient, CBS News reported June 24. John Nicholas, 28, of Chicago, experienced no pain during the May 24 procedure, in which he received an organ from a childhood friend. He was discharged the next…

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Editor's Note A retrospective cohort study found transplanting kidneys from donors who underwent dialysis resulted in no long-term differences in graft failure, kidney function, or death, but recipients had significantly higher risk for delayed graft function (DGF). According to a May 23 MedPage Today report on the study, originally published…

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Editor's Note Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy improves eligibility for kidney transplants in patients with obesity as well as advanced chronic kidney disease, according to a Mayo Clinic study. According to a May 2 report on the results, the surgical weight-loss procedure also reduces the risk of cardiovascular conditions, such as diabetes…

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Editor's Note The second-ever living recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney was the first to have the new organ paired with a mechanical heart pump, according to an April 24 CNN report. The subject, 54-year-old Lisa Pisano, underwent the milestone surgery at NYU Langone Health. She had heart failure and…

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Editor's Note A standard kidney function test has been underestimating the seriousness of disease in Black patients, delaying their eligibility for transplants, The Associated Press reported March 31. Now, that test is changing – and Black patients awaiting kidneys are moving up the list.  Among other factors, transplant eligibility is…

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Editor's Note A 62-year-old man in Weymouth, Massachusetts is reportedly recovering well several days after receiving the first kidney to be transplanted into a living person. As noted in a March 21 report in the Boston Globe, the operation at Massachusetts General Hospital marked a new milestone in the effort…

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Editor's Note: Artificial intelligence (AI) leveraging machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP, a subset of machine learning) models can help identify donors with kidneys unsuitable for organ transplant, according to a study published November 1 in Jama Surgery. Despite the unmet need, many deceased-donor kidneys are discarded or…

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Editor's Note: A successful test of a genetically modified pig liver attached to a brain-dead human body could have significant implications for liver failure patients, the Associated Press reported January 18. Conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, the tested method is similar to kidney dialysis in that the genetically modified…

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Editor's Note: A recent study reveals individuals with obesity or metabolic disorder could have a higher risk of experiencing graft function deterioration (GFD), while individuals with metabolically healthy overweight or obesity (MHO) had an elevated risk. Results were published December 27 in JAMA Network Open. The cohort study examined 1260 adult…

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Editor’s Note Penn Medicine celebrated a significant milestone on December 6—its 100th paired kidney exchange surgery in 12 months set a world record for the most kidney paired donation transplants in a year. The announcement was published in an EurekAlert! December 12 press release. Penn Medicine launched its Center for…

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