organ transplants

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Decades After Donating Kidney, She Gets One From a Pig

Towana Looney becomes 5th American to receive a gene-edited pig organ

(Newser) - An Alabama woman is recovering well after a pig kidney transplant last month that freed her from eight years of dialysis, the latest effort to save human lives with animal organs, reports the AP . Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ—and notably, she isn't...

For Organ Donations, an 'Unnecessary Barrier' Is Gone

Individuals with HIV will now be allowed to receive organs from HIV-positive donors, per new HHS rule

(Newser) - People with HIV who need a kidney or liver transplant will be able to receive an organ from a donor with HIV under a new rule announced Tuesday by US health officials. Previously, such transplants could be done only as part of research. The new rule, which takes effect Wednesday,...

Ex-NBA Player Hears From Family of Heart Donor

Scot Pollard hopes to include them in a documentary about his experience

(Newser) - One of the first things that former NBA player and Survivor contestant Scot Pollard made sure to do after receiving a heart transplant was to write down his feelings when they were fresh, in the hopes that he would someday share them with the donor's family. "We want...

It's OK, You Can Safely Donate a Kidney
It's OK, You Can
Safely Donate a Kidney
NEW STUDY
Aug 28, 2024 12:05 PM CDT

It's OK, You Can Safely Donate a Kidney

'The last decade has become a lot more safe in the operating room for living donors,' says study co-author

(Newser) - People who volunteer to donate a kidney face an even lower risk of death than doctors have long thought, researchers reported Wednesday. The study tracked 30 years of living kidney donation and found that by 2022, fewer than 1 in every 10,000 donors died within three months of the...

Behold, Some of the World's Cleanest Pigs

The AP tours Virginia facilities where the animals are bred for organ transplants

(Newser) - Wide-eyed piglets rushing to check out the visitors to their unusual barn just might represent the future of organ transplantation—and there's no rolling around in the mud here in Blacksburg, Virginia. The first gene-edited pig organs ever transplanted into people came from animals born on this special research...

Transplant Patient Loses Her Pig Kidney
Woman Who Received
Pig Kidney Has Died
UPDATED
Jul 9, 2024 12:02 PM CDT

Woman Who Received Pig Kidney Has Died

Lisa Pisano of New Jersey praised for her decision to have the procedure

(Newser) - A New Jersey woman who received a pig kidney transplant has died in hospice care, reports the AP . Lisa Pisano, 54, underwent the novel surgery in April, though she had to have the kidney removed earlier this month. "Lisa helped bring us closer to realizing a future where someone...

He Just Got a New Kidney, No Anesthesia or Opioids Needed

John Nicholas underwent an 'awake' transplant surgery at Northwestern: 'Very surreal'

(Newser) - Usually, a kidney transplant patient at Northwestern Memorial Hospital spends two to three days after the procedure recuperating in the Chicago medical center before being sent home. John Nicholas was back in his own bed the next day, partly thanks to surgeons operating on him using an uncommon "awake"...

Her Kidneys, Heart Were Failing. A Novel Approach Saved Her

Lisa Pisano is first to get heart pump then organ transplant—in her case, from a pig

(Newser) - "We're in a new universe in transplantation," Dr. Robert Montgomery of the transplant institute at NYU Langone Health said Wednesday. He announced that a New Jersey woman is the second living person to receive a gene-edited pig kidney, mere weeks after the first . Lisa Pisano, 54, of...

Doctor Accused of Thwarting Patients' Transplants

J. Steve Bynon Jr. oversees abdominal transplants at Texas' Memorial Hermann

(Newser) - The surgeon who's led the abdominal transplant program at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston since 2011 is accused of altering records to potentially deny patients a shot at a life-saving liver. The hospital abruptly shut down its liver and kidney transplant programs in recent days after the doctor,...

Height That Helped His NBA Career Now Threatens His Life

Ex-Pacer Scot Pollard, who was also on 'Survivor,' awaits heart transplant from a patient his size

(Newser) - At 6-foot-11, Scot Pollard's size helped him play more than a decade in the NBA, earning him a championship ring with the 2008 Boston Celtics. Now it may be killing him. Pollard needs a heart transplant, an already dire predicament that's made more difficult by the fact so...

His Whole-Eye Transplant Is a World First

Aaron James of Arkansas also got a partial face transplant at the same time

(Newser) - Surgeons have performed the world's first transplant of an entire human eye, an extraordinary addition to a face transplant—although it's far too soon to know if the man will ever see through his new left eye, per the AP . An accident with high-voltage power lines had destroyed...

'How Am I Talking to Someone Who Has a Pig Heart?'

Navy vet Lawrence Faucette, 58, has transplant in Maryland, only the 2nd living patient to do so

(Newser) - Surgeons have transplanted a pig's heart into a dying man in a bid to prolong his life—only the second patient to ever undergo such an experimental feat. Two days after the Wednesday procedure , the man was cracking jokes and able to sit in a chair, Maryland doctors said...

Pig Kidney Has Been Working in a Human for 32 Days

The patient in question is brain-dead

(Newser) - Maurice Miller is brain-dead, but the 57-year-old is being kept alive so doctors at NYU Langone Health in New York City can study his kidney—which was transplanted from a pig. The organ has been producing urine and filtering toxins since July 14, meaning 32 days. That's far longer...

This Heart's Record Trip May Be Game-Changer for Transplants

Organ was transported 2.5K miles for transplant from Alaska to Boston, thanks to a special cooler

(Newser) - When it comes to heart transplants, doctors don't want to see more than four to six hours pass from the time the organ is taken out of one body and moved into another. But one heart recently spent more than seven hours in transit, and traveled more than 2,...

A Dying Transplant Recipient Explains the 'Gratitude Paradox'

Amy Silverstein is grateful for her donated hearts but laments 'sorry state of transplant medicine'

(Newser) - Amy Silverstein learned last month that she has incurable cancer. Now, in a New York Times essay, the author of Sick Girl says goodbye to her heart. Which is to say, she says goodbye to the heart beating within her that she received in a transplant. It was actually her...

US Has One Organ Transplant Overseer. That Could Change

The Biden administration looks to take power out of UNOS' hands

(Newser) - Just one entity has been at the reins of the US transplant system for nearly 40 years, a fact the Biden administration is gunning to change. The government on Wednesday proposed breaking up the contract to oversee organ transplantation, which would take the sole responsibility for doing so out of...

State Lawmakers Propose Cutting Sentences If Inmates Donate Organs

Critics call Massachusetts bill an ethical disaster

(Newser) - With more than 100,000 Americans on waiting lists for transplant organs and more than 2 million inmates in American prisons, an unusual proposal in Massachusetts might be closely watched by other states. Democratic state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would give inmates time off their sentences for donating...

Police 'Santa Claus' Uses Lamborghini to Deliver Organs

Automaker donated supercar to Italian police

(Newser) - Two transplant patients in Italy received what police call a "Christmas present"—delivered not by sleigh, but by Lamborghini. State police in Bologna used an adapted Lamborghini Huracan supercar donated by the automaker to deliver kidneys to two hospitals hundreds of miles apart this week, AFP reports. The...

New Research May Shift Thinking on Liver Donors
'Centurion Livers' May
Shift Thinking on Donors
in case you missed it
Oct 23, 2022 9:00 AM CDT

'Centurion Livers' May Shift Thinking on Donors

Transplanted organ can function for decades, suggesting accepting older donors should be encouraged

(Newser) - A new study into transplanted livers finds that the organs can continue functioning for a long time in a new recipient—sometimes for a combined total of more than 100 years between the donor and patient. The takeaway from the research is that hospitals shouldn't be too quick to...

Transplant Milestone Comes Amid Fierce Criticism

US logs its millionth organ transplant amid calls for improvement to national system

(Newser) - The US counted its millionth organ transplant on Friday, a milestone that comes at a critical time for Americans still desperately waiting for that chance at survival. It took decades from the first success—a kidney in 1954—to transplant 1 million organs, and officials can't reveal if this...

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