Organ Donation News and Research

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Susan Tolle to be awarded 2014 MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics

The 2014 MacLean Center Prize in Clinical Ethics, an award of $50,000, will be presented to Susan Tolle, MD, a former MacLean Center fellow who has pioneered efforts to improve communication between health care providers and patients regarding end-of-life care.

12 Nov 2014

Heart-lung support technology increases number of kidneys, livers, pancreases for transplant

Using heart-lung support technology, the University of Michigan's Transplant Center was able to increase the number of kidneys, livers and pancreases available for transplant by about 20 percent.

22 Aug 2014

Physicians are more likely to be registered as organ donor compared to general public

A study that included about 15,000 physicians found that they were more likely to be registered as an organ donor compared to the general public, according to a study in the July 16 issue of JAMA.

16 Jul 2014

Many liver transplant patients want to be involved in the decision of whether to accept the organ

A novel study reveals that more than half of liver transplant patients want to be informed of donor risk at the time a liver is offered for transplantation. Nearly 80% of those patients want to be involved in the decision of whether or not to accept the organ according to findings published in Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society.

15 Jul 2014

Mercy Memorial Hospital System signs LOI to join Promedica

Mercy Memorial Hospital System signed a letter of intent to join ProMedica, a not-for-profit, multi-hospital system based in Toledo, Ohio.

9 Jul 2014

5-year survival of diabetic kidney transplant patients now on par with nondiabetic recipients

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that the five-year survival of diabetic kidney transplant patients is now on par with the five-year survival of nondiabetic kidney recipients.

9 May 2014

Organ recovery centers could improve efficiency, reduce costs associated with deceased organ donation

Free-standing organ recovery centers could markedly improve efficiency and reduce costs associated with deceased organ donation, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation.

27 Feb 2014

Moving organ donors to stand-alone facility for retrieving organs is more efficient, lowers costs

Retrieving organs from brain-dead donors is logistically challenging and time consuming in hospitals. Multiple surgical teams often fly to a donor's hospital but frequently face delays in retrieving organs due to crowded operating-room schedules.

25 Feb 2014

Paired exchange and incompatible kidney transplant program launched by UAB

Ann Marie Reynolds, a 32-year-old who has been in and out of hospitals fighting chronic kidney disease since she was a teenager, had a less than 1 percent chance of receiving a kidney without the University of Alabama at Birmingham's groundbreaking organ donation system that helped her and two other hard-to-match patients get kidneys in a three-way, incompatible kidney exchange earlier this year.

24 Dec 2013

Paragonix Technologies successfully closes $1.1M convertible debt round

Paragonix Technologies, Inc., a medical device company based in Braintree, MA, developing the Sherpa product line for organ preservation and transportation, today announced that the Company's $1.1M convertible debt round has been successfully closed.

18 Dec 2013

Paragonix Technologies files FDA Pre-Marketing Notification Application for Sherpa Pak Transporter

Paragonix Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has successfully completed filing of a Pre-Marketing Notification Application (510(k)) with the US Food and Drug Administration for its Sherpa Pak Transporter. The Sherpa Pak Transporter is indicated for the static hypothermic preservation of kidneys during transportation and eventual transplantation into a recipient, using cold storage solutions indicated for use with the kidney.

17 Dec 2013

OPOs’ efforts to enforce FPA is inconsistent and incomplete, shows study

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the 2006 Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) or enacted similar legislation giving individuals the "First Person Authorization" (FPA) to consent to organ donation after death via a signed donor card or driver's license, or by enrollment in a donor registry.

27 Nov 2013

New bill offers hope to HIV patients on transplant waiting lists

A bill scheduled to be signed into law today by President Obama reverses the longtime ban on letting HIV-infected people donate their organs for transplantation after death, a move that offers hope to thousands of HIV patients on transplant waiting lists.

22 Nov 2013

Livers from donors with pre-hospital cardiac arrest considered for transplant

Researchers from the U.K. suggest that using organs from donors after circulatory death (DCD) who also suffered a previous cardiac arrest out of the hospital environment could expand the pool of available livers for transplant.

11 Nov 2013

Paying living donors for kidney transplantation could result in incremental cost savings

A strategy where living kidney donors are paid $10,000, with the assumption that this strategy would increase the number of transplants performed by 5% or more, would be less costly and more effective than the current organ donation system, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN).

25 Oct 2013

IPF World Week underlines the need for integrated approach towards idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

This year's IPF World Week (September 21-29) sees healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, people living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), who have an estimated median survival time of two to five years, and their families calling for an integrated approach to further strengthen the national and international network of people working to support patients with this fatal orphan lung disease.

20 Sep 2013

Longer looks: Phenomenal growth of the Cleveland Clinic prompts hopes for the city; the bittersweet decision to donate organs

Delos M. "Toby" Cosgrove arrived at the Cleveland Clinic in 1975 as an "incredibly poor" 34-year-old dreaming of a life as a cardiac surgeon. … As the years passed he became well-known for pioneering the replacement of heart valves, eventually assuming the chair of the department of cardiothoracic surgery.

From Medtronic 5 Sep 2013

Argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA) and gene therapy: an interview with Dr Julien Baruteau, UCL Institute for Women's Health, London

This rare genetic condition can theoretically affect patients at any age but symptoms are more often observed in childhood and even uncommonly during the first days of life.

2 Sep 2013

Researchers develop new model for more equitable allocation of livers for transplantation

Using the same type of mathematical formulas used to draw political redistricting maps, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a model that would allow for the more equitable allocation of livers from deceased donors for transplantation.

12 Jul 2013

Heart transplant could get a second chance to save life

Human hearts which are not used each year because they are deemed unsuitable for an organ transplant could get a second chance to save a life, with the help of new research taking place in the North East.

11 Jul 2013