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Donor-Free DNA May Aid Monitoring of Kidney Transplant Recipients

Tests measuring donor-derived cell-free DNA are revolutionizing kidney transplant monitoring, enabling earlier detection of graft injury and decreasing the need for invasive biopsies. Pathologists indicate that dd-cfDNA is a key early indicator of donor-specific antibody development and a superior predictor of transplant rejection compared to serum creatinine.

Can a Common Virus Flag Cancer Risk After Kidney Transplant?

Higher torque teno virus levels after kidney transplant may signal future cancer risk. Researchers analyzed long-term outcomes to test whether viral load reflects excessive immunosuppression. The findings raise questions about how immune monitoring could reshape post-transplant care.

Pediatric Lung Transplants Decline as Case Complexity Intensifies

In the future, there will be fewer operations overall performed on children in need of lung transplants, but more complex cases and mounting challenges will emerge, according to recent data.

Recipient Plasma Metabolomics as a Predictor of Heart Transplant Severe Primary Graft Dysfunction

Primary graft dysfunction is a significant cause of complications and death after orthotopic heart transplantation, with its underlying biology poorly understood and metabolomics studies being scarce. A study involving 62 OHT recipients analyzed preoperative plasma samples using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry.

MRI Scans Catch Early Signs of Psc Recurrence After Liver Transplant

Scheduled MRI scans one to three years after a liver transplant may detect signs of returning primary sclerosing cholangitis earlier than standard blood-based liver function tests, a single-center study suggested. Researchers using a specialized MRI technique called magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography found that nearly half of patients showed early signs of recurrent primary sclerosing cholangitis, often before abnormalities appeared in routine tests that measure liver enzyme levels.

Implantable Mini-Livers Could Transform Liver Disease Treatment

In patients developing end-stage liver disease, the damage has become too severe for the liver's normally extraordinary regenerative capacity to repair or compensate for it. A research team has developed implantable mini-livers that grow inside the body, offering a solution for liver disease treatment.

Intravenous Immunoglobulin In Solid-Organ Transplantation

The survival of kidney and lung allografts continues to be threatened by sensitization, donor-specific antibody formation and antibody-mediated rejection. Intravenous immunoglobulin has been incorporated into three major clinical contexts central to transplant medicine: desensitization before transplantation, treatment of antibody-mediated rejection, and replacement or adjunctive therapy for post-transplant hypogammaglobulinemia or increased risk for infection.

Pediatric Heart Transplant Demand Rises Amid Severe Donor Shortage

Advances in pediatric heart care are helping more children survive long enough to receive a transplant-but a critical shortage of donor hearts means too many are still dying while they wait, experts warned today at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation 46th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions.

Donor Derived Cell Free DNA May Aid Monitoring of Kidney Transplant Recipients

Tests measuring donor-derived cell-free DNA are revolutionizing the monitoring of kidney transplant recipients, enabling earlier detection of graft injury and potentially decreasing the need for invasive graft biopsies.

Immunosuppressive Therapies in Kidney Transplant Recipients

For more than two decades, the field of kidney transplantation has seen little advancement in immunosuppressive therapies. While current treatments are effective, there still exists a patient population with unmet needs who have a poor tolerance to these drugs. This survey was driven by a need for awareness of this challenge.

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