Potential Recipients (potential + recipient)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Bridging Patients to Cardiac Transplantation

CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE, Issue 5 2000
Michael B. Higginbotham MD
Potential recipients of heart transplants have the most advanced form of congestive heart failure, in which standard therapy fails to maintain clinical stability. In the absence of guidelines derived from evidence obtained in clinical trials, caring for these patients becomes a challenge. A successful approach requires the proper coordination of surgical and nonsurgical strategies, including revascularization and valvular surgery as well as mechanical ventricular support and medical strategies. Intensive medical therapy is the most commonly used approach for prolonged bridging to transplantation. Although carefully individualized regimens are necessary to achieve desired goals, most centers adopt a fairly standardized approach involving vasodilators, diuretics, and inotropic support. Bridging patients with cardiac decompensation to transplantation presents a major therapeutic challenge. Appropriate strategies will maximize patients' chances that the bridge from decompensation to transplantation remains intact. [source]


Major adverse events, pretransplant assessment and outcome prediction

JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY, Issue 11 2009
Hui-Chun Huang
Abstract Liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension pose enormous loss of lives and resources throughout the world, especially in endemic areas of chronic viral hepatitis. Although the pathophysiology of cirrhosis is not completely understood, the accumulating evidence has paved the way for better control of the complications, including gastroesophageal variceal bleeding, hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatopulmonary syndrome and portopulmonary hypertension. Modern pharmacological and interventional therapies have been designed to treat these complications. However, liver transplantation (LT) is the only definite treatment for patients with preterminal end-stage liver disease. To pursue successful LT, the meticulous evaluation of potential recipients and donors is pivotal, especially for living donor transplantation. The critical shortage of cadaveric donor livers is another concern. In many Asian countries, cultural and religious concerns further limit the number of the donors, which lags far behind that of the recipients. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scoring system has recently become the prevailing criterion for organ allocation. Initial results showed clear benefits of moving from the Child,Turcotte,Pugh-based system toward the MELD-based organ allocation system. In addition to the MELD, serum sodium is another important prognostic predictor in patients with advanced cirrhosis. The incorporation of serum sodium into the MELD could enhance the performance of the MELD and could become an indispensable strategy in refining the priority for LT. However, the feasibility of the MELD in combination with sodium in predicting the outcome for patients on transplant waiting list awaits actual outcome data before this becomes standard practice in the Asia,Pacific region. [source]


Antimicrobial resistance in livestock

JOURNAL OF VETERINARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 2 2003
B. Catry
Antimicrobial resistance may become a major problem in veterinary medicine as a consequence of the intensive use and misuse of antimicrobial drugs. Related problems are now arising in human medicine, such as the appearance of multi-resistant food-borne pathogens. Product characteristics, dose, treatment interval and duration of treatment influence the selection pressure for antimicrobial drug resistance. There are theoretical, experimental and clinical indications that the emergence of de novo resistance in a pathogenic population can be prevented by minimizing the time that suboptimal drug levels are present in the infected tissue compartment. Until recently, attention has been focused on target pathogens. However, it should be kept in mind that when antimicrobial drugs are used in an individual, resistance selection mainly affects the normal body flora. In the long term, this is at least equally important as resistance selection in the target pathogens, as the horizontal transfer of resistance genes converts almost all pathogenic bacteria into potential recipients for antimicrobial resistance. Other factors contributing to the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance are the localization and size of the microbial population, and the age, immunity and contact intensity of the host. In livestock, dynamic herd-related resistance patterns have been observed in different animal species. [source]


Face Transplant: Real and Imagined Ethical Challenges

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 1 2006
Tia Powell
Ethical lapses associated with the first facial transplant included breaches of confidentiality, bending of research rules, and film deals. However, discussions of the risk-benefit ratio for face transplantation are often deficient in that they ignore the needs, experience, and decision-making capability of potential recipients. [source]


How Safe Is It to Transplant Organs from Deceased Donors with Primary Intracranial Malignancy?

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 6 2010
An Analysis of UK Registry Data
Patients dying from primary intracranial malignancy are a potential source of organs for transplantation. However, a perceived risk of tumor transfer to the organ recipient has limited their use. We evaluated the risk of tumor transmission by reviewing the incidence in patients transplanted in the UK. Information from the UK Transplant Registry was combined with that from the national cancer registries of England, Wales and Northern Ireland to identify all organ donors between 1985 and 2001 inclusive with a primary intracranial malignancy and to identify the occurrence of posttransplant malignancy in the recipients of the organs transplanted. Of 11 799 organ donors in the study period, 179 were identified as having had a primary intracranial malignancy, including 33 with high-grade malignancy (24 grade IV gliomas and 9 medulloblastomas). A total of 448 recipients of 495 organs from 177 of these donors were identified. No transmission of donor intracranial malignancy occurred. Organs from patients dying from primary intracranial malignancy, including those with high-grade tumors, should be considered for transplantation and the small risk of tumor transmission should be balanced against the likely mortality for potential recipients who remain on the transplant waiting list. [source]


Increasing Lung Allocation Scores Predict Worsened Survival Among Lung Transplant Recipients

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 4 2010
V. Liu
Implemented in 2005, the lung allocation score (LAS) aims to distribute donor organs based on overall survival benefits for all potential recipients, rather than on waiting list time accrued. While prior work has shown that patients with scores greater than 46 are at increased risk of death, it is not known whether that risk is equivalent among such patients when stratified by LAS score and diagnosis. We retrospectively evaluated 5331 adult lung transplant recipients from May 2005 to February 2009 to determine the association of LAS (groups based on scores of ,46, 47,59, 60,79 and ,80) and posttransplant survival. When compared with patients with LAS , 46, only those with LAS , 60 had an increased risk of death (LAS 60,79: hazard ratio [HR], 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21,1.90; LAS , 80: HR, 2.03; CI, 1.61,2.55; p < 0.001) despite shorter median waiting list times. This risk persisted after adjusting for age, diagnosis, transplant center volume and donor characteristics. By specific diagnosis, an increased hazard was observed in patients with COPD with LAS , 80, as well as those with IPF with LAS , 60. [source]


Successful Expansion of the Living Donor Pool by Alternative Living Donation Programs

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 9 2009
J. I. Roodnat
Between January 2000 and December 2007, 786 potential recipients and 1059 potential donors attended our pretransplant unit with the request for a living-donor renal transplant procedure. The recipients brought one potential donor in 77.2% and two or more donors in 22.8% of cases. In the regular living donor program, a compatible donor was found for 467 recipients. Without considering alternative donation, 579 donors would have been refused. Alternative living donation programs led to 114 compatible combinations: kidney-exchange program (35), ABO-incompatible donation (25), anonymous donation (37) and domino-paired anonymous donation (17). Together, the 114 alternative program donations and the 467 regular living donations led to 581 living donor transplantations (24.4% increase). Eventually for 54.9% (581/1059) of our donors, a compatible combination was found. Donor,recipient incompatibility comprised 19.4% (89/458) in the final refused population, which is 8.8% of the potential donor,recipient couples. Without considering alternative donation, 30.1% (174/579) of the refused donors would have been refused on incompatibility and 6.4% (37/579) because they were anonymous. This is 20% of the potential donor population (211/1059). The implementation of alternative living donation programs led to a significant increase in the number of transplantations, while transplantations via the direct donation program steadily increased. [source]


Has Time Come for New Goals in Human Islet Transplantation?

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 6 2008
R. Lehmann
The enthusiasm regarding clinical islet transplantation has been dampened by the long-term results. Concerns about the associated risks of life-long immunosuppression and the striking imbalance between potential recipients and available donor pancreata warrant changes in some of the current goals. Islet transplantation will never be a cure of type 1 diabetes in the majority of patients with no secondary complications, but is a valid option for a limited number of patients with brittle diabetes waiting for an organ or after organ transplantation. Furthermore, insulin independence should not be the main goal of islet transplantation, but avoidance of severe hypoglycemia and good glycemic control, which can be achieved with a relatively small functional beta-cell mass. Therefore, initially one islet infusion is sufficient. Retransplantation at a later time point remains an option, if glucose control deteriorates. Efforts to improve islet transplantation should no longer focus on islet isolation and immunosuppression, but rather on the low posttransplant survival rate of islets caused by activation of the coagulation pathway and the limited oxygen delivery to the islets. Transplantation of smaller islets be it naturally small or size tailored reaggregated islets has the potential to facilitate these processes. [source]


Direction of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and United Network for Organ Sharing Regarding the Oversight of Live Donor Transplantation and Solicitation for Organs

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2006
F. L. Delmonico
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) operated by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has taken recent steps to address public solicitation for organ donors and its oversight of live donor transplantation. This report provides the direction of the OPTN regarding deceased donor solicitation. The OPTN has authority under federal law to equitably allocate deceased donor organs within a single national network based upon medical criteria, not upon one's social or economic ability to utilize resources not available to all on the waiting list. The OPTN makes a distinction between solicitations for a live donor organ versus solicitations for directed donation of deceased organs. As to live donor solicitation, the OPTN cannot regulate or restrict ways relationships are developed in our society, nor does it seek to do so. OPTN members have a responsibility of helping protect potential recipients from hazards that can arise from public appeals for live donor organs. Oversight and support of the OPTN for live donor transplantation is now detailed by improving the reporting of live donor follow-up, by providing a mechanism for facilitating anonymous live kidney donation, and by providing information for potential live kidney donors via the UNOS Transplant LivingSM website. [source]


Protective role of Coenzyme Q10 in two models of rat lung injury

ANZ JOURNAL OF SURGERY, Issue 4 2010
Hou-Kiat Lim
Abstract Background:, Ischaemia-reperfusion injury is a life-threatening complication of lung transplantation. Attempts to ameliorate this injury have included optimization of donor management and improving techniques of lung preservation. However, few investigators have sought to pretreat potential recipients. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a potent antioxidant and cellular energizer that has been shown to protect the heart against injury. However, its protective effect in the lung is unknown. We therefore set out to study the impact of Coenzyme Q10 pretreatment in a model of mild and severe lung injury. Methods:, We evaluated the impact of CoQ10 in a two-stage laboratory study. In the first stage, in order to measure the magnitude of increase in tissue and plasma CoQ10 following oral therapy we administered high-dose oral CoQ10 to rats (n = 6). In the second stage we evaluated the impact of CoQ10 in the rat lung (n = 10) that was subjected to 230 min of normoxic lung injury or 90 min of warm ischaemia and 120 min of reperfusion in a model of lung transplantation. Results:, High-dose oral CoQ10 for 7 days produced a 15-fold increase in plasma and a 3-fold increase in lung CoQ10. In the normoxic lung, the injury-induced rise in peak airway pressure was reduced by CoQ10 treatment at 90 min (P = 0.037) and at 120 min (P = 0.005) without any change in arterial oxygen. In the lung subjected to severe ischaemia-reperfusion injury, CoQ10 did not reduce the injury-induced increase in peak airway pressure (P = 0.599) nor the decrease in arterial oxygen (P = 0.844). However, CoQ10 markedly reduced the increase in tumour necrosis factor-alpha in ischaemic compared with normoxic lung (P = 0.027). Conclusions:, The effect of CoQ10 pretreatment is insufficient to protect the lung against severe ischaemia-reperfusion as may occur in lung transplantation. However, in the setting of less severe pulmonary injury as in anaesthesia and non-transplant surgery, CoQ10 may have a protective role. [source]