Organ Donation News and Research

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Future of organ transplantation - microscopic beads that create "designer " immune cells

The future of organ transplantation could include microscopic beads that create "designer" immune cells to help patients tolerate their new organ, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.

6 Jul 2009

Number of black organ donors increases in Michigan, many blacks still reluctant to donate organs

Although the number of blacks who are registered as organ donors in Michigan has increased in the last 15 years, many are still reluctant to be organ donors, the Detroit News reports.

22 May 2009

Transplant physicians express serious concern about organ procurement practices in China

The globalization of health care and the growth of "transplant tourism" (traveling abroad to purchase donor organs and undergo organ transplantation) have outpaced the implementation of internationally accepted ethical standards for procurement of organs for transplantation.

22 Apr 2009

Changing the way organ donation requests are made could prevent relatives denying consent

Timing and whether a transplant coordinator makes the request are key factors in whether relatives consent to organ donation, according to a study published on bmj.com today.

22 Apr 2009

New York Times examines use of message placement on TV programs

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is "set to expand its involvement" with the entertainment industry and "spend more money on influencing popular culture" through a new deal with Viacom, the parent company to television networks that include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and BET, the New York Times reports.

5 Apr 2009

Enteroviruses may play role in type 1 diabetes

A team of researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England, the University of Brighton and the Department of Pathology at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, has found that a common family of viruses (enteroviruses) may play an important role in triggering the development of diabetes, particularly in children.

5 Mar 2009

Surgeons remove healthy kidney through donor's vagina

In what is believed to be a first-ever procedure, surgeons at Johns Hopkins have successfully removed a healthy donor kidney through a small incision in the back of the donor's vagina.

2 Feb 2009

Kidney transplant survival can be long-term for people with HIV

A Johns Hopkins study finds that HIV-positive kidney transplant recipients could have the same one-year survival rates for themselves and their donor organs as those without HIV, provided certain risk factors for transplant failure are recognized and tightly managed.

19 Jan 2009

Presumed consent or opt-out system may increase organ donation rates

There is currently insufficient supply of donor organs to meet the demand for organ transplantations in the UK. The number of patients registered for a transplant continues to increase. In March 2008, 7,655 patients were on the active transplant list; 506 died in 2007-2008 while waiting for their transplant.

15 Jan 2009

First tissue-engineered windpipe transplant

The first tissue-engineered trachea (windpipe), utilising the patient's own stem cells, has been successfully transplanted into a young woman with a failing airway.

18 Nov 2008

Experts discuss organ trafficking

With the number of patients in need of organ transplants on the rise, an increasing number of patients are turning to unconventional sources for organs.

10 Nov 2008

Solutions to inequities in kidney transplant allocation

Depending on where they live in the United States, patients needing a kidney transplant can wait just one year for a deceased donor's kidney or up to 10 years.

7 Nov 2008

Summit says organ donors should be reimbursed

At an organ donation summit in Perth this week a scheme to reimburse organ donors has been proposed.

18 Aug 2008

First NY to LA living-donor transplant chain results in three lifesaving kidney transplants at UCLA

The lives of three Los Angeles-area kidney transplant patients were transformed by one of the West Coast's first three-way living donor kidney transplant chains, made possible through the generosity of a non-directed, altruistic kidney donor from New York City -- announced today at a joint news conference.

4 Aug 2008

Man presumed dead recovers during surgery to remove his organs for donation

The revelation that a man whose heart had stopped beating, woke up just as surgeons were about to remove his organs for donation, is disconcerting to say the least.

11 Jun 2008

Expert says solve kidney donor crisis by paying for organs

A senior medical specialist has caused controversy over his comments regarding organ donations.

5 May 2008

Organ sales and moral travails - Iran's system of compensated organ donation

The United States suffers from an acute shortage of kidneys for transplant, with 73,000 people waiting for deceased donors to make organs available.

24 Mar 2008

Australian transplant rates plummet despite 5.5 million organ donors

Leading medical experts in Australia have voiced their concern about the falling rates of transplants.

21 Mar 2008

New technique improves outcome for living donor liver transplants

The University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) is one of only a few centers in Canada that perform living donor liver transplantation, a surgical procedure developed in the late 1980s that expands the organ donor pool. About 80 liver transplants are done a year in Alberta, 10 of those being living-donor.

19 Mar 2008

British Prime Minister in favour of presumed consent for organ transplants

British Prime Minister Gordan Brown is calling for a debate on organ donation and says he is in favour of a policy known as "presumed consent" ; this would allow for organs to be transplanted without consent.

14 Jan 2008