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12 May
Mother of Twins Receives Life-Saving Double Lung Transplant after Cancer Diagnosis
A new mother of twins from Berlin finds a miracle in Chicago after being diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Surgeons at Northwestern Medicine save her life with a double-lung transplant.
Health News Results - 93
Preemptive Kidney Transplants Add No Benefit, Study Says
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- June 4, 2025
- Full Page
Folks who might need a kidney transplant in the future shouldn’t rush to get one, a new study says.
Patients gain no benefit from getting a donated kidney before their own kidneys deteriorate to the point that they require dialysis, researchers reported recently in...
Donor Hearts Might Be Kept Healthy In Cold Storage Longer
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- May 22, 2025
- Full Page
More donor hearts could become available for transplant, thanks to a new discovery that could protect them from damage during transport.
Researchers have identified a biological process that contributes to donor heart injury during cold storage, according to a report pub...
Deaths Waiting For Lung Donation Have Dropped Under New Guidelines
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- May 21, 2025
- Full Page
New guidelines for allocating donated lungs are saving more lives, a new study says.
By prioritizing medical urgency, the guidelines caused a dramatic decline in the number of people who die waiting for a lung transplant, researchers reported Sunday at the American Thora...
Doctors Perform First-Ever Human Bladder Transplant in U.S.
- I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- May 19, 2025
- Full Page
Doctors in Southern California have performed the first human bladder transplant, offering new hope to people with serious bladder problems.
The surgery was done earlier this month by two doctors from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of...
Double Lung Transplant Saves Mother Of Twins
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- May 12, 2025
- Full Page
The timing of Cornelia Tischmacher’s pneumonia couldn’t have been worse -- eight months after the Berlin mom gave birth to twins.
But the pneumonia just wouldn’t go away, so Tischmacher went to a doctor in January 2018. Tests revealed that the then-40-y...
New Trial Will Test Gene-Edited Pig Liver for Sudden Liver Failure Patients
- I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- April 16, 2025
- Full Page
A new clinical trial will soon test if a pig liver can help people whose own livers have suddenly stopped working.
The hope? That animal organs can temporarily filter a patient’s blood, giving their own liver time to rest and possibly recover.
The U.S. Food a...
Pig Kidney Removed After Historic Transplant in Alabama Woman
- I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- April 15, 2025
- Full Page
Doctors have removed a genetically modified pig's kidney from an Alabama woman after her body rejected the organ, NYU Langone Health reported.
Organ Transplant Patient Dies After Contracting Rabies
- I. Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- March 28, 2025
- Full Page
A Michigan resident has died after receiving an organ transplant infected with rabies, state health officials said Wednesday.
The patient got the transplant at an Ohio hospital in December and passed away the following month.
The exact type of organ and the patient...
Duke Doctors Perform First Living Mitral Valve Transplant
- India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- March 3, 2025
- Full Page
In a groundbreaking series of surgeries, doctors at Duke Health have successfully performed the world’s first living mitral valve replacement, saving the lives of three young girls across North Carolina.
The procedure became possible after 11-year-old Journi Kelly,...
Epstein-Barr Virus Might Help Trigger Cancer After Kidney Transplant
- Denise Mann HealthDay Reporter
- February 14, 2025
- Full Page
Key Takeaways
Kidney transplant recipients who’ve never been exposed to the Epstein-Barr virus but receive organs from a donor who has been may develop a rare and aggressive cancer
As many as 1,200 patients a year could be ...
Longest Pig Organ Transplant Survivor Passes 60 Days With New Kidney
- India Edwards HealthDay Reporter
- January 27, 2025
- Full Page
An Alabama woman has become the longest-living recipient of a pig organ transplant, passing 60 days with a gene-edited kidney and showing no signs of slowing down.
"I'm superwoman," Towana Looney, 53, told The Associated Press as she marked day 61 on Saturday.
U.S. Woman Living Healthy With Kidney Sourced From Pig
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- December 17, 2024
- Full Page
A 53-year-old woman from Alabama has a new lease on life after receiving a gene-edited kidney obtained from a pig, living healthily with the new organ for over a month, her New York City doctors announced Tuesday.
Towana Looney's road to kidney failure began with the ult...
People With HIV Can Now Receive Livers, Kidneys From HIV-Positive Donors
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- November 26, 2024
- Full Page
People with HIV can now receive a potentially life-saving kidney or liver from a donor who is also infected with the virus, according to new rules announced Tuesday by the Biden administration.
Woman Receives World's First Robotic Double-Lung Transplant
- Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
- November 22, 2024
- Full Page
A 57-year-old woman with COPD has received the world's first fully robotic double lung transplant.
The breakthrough surgery was performed in October at ...
Kidney Transplants Safe When Donor, Recipient Both HIV-Positive
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- October 16, 2024
- Full Page
People living with HIV who need a kidney can rest assured that outcomes are similar whether their kidney donor was also HIV-positive or not, a new study finds.
One- and three-year survival was the same, regardless of the donor's HIV status, as were the rate of serious si...
Long-Term Outcomes Good for Face Transplant Recipients, Study Finds
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- September 18, 2024
- Full Page
There have been 50 face transplants performed in 11 countries since the surgery was pioneered back in 2005, and long-term outcomes have been favorable, a new review finds.
In total, 85% of people receiving these complex surgeries survived five years and 74% were still al...
He's Doing Great a Year After World's First Eye and Partial Face Transplant
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- September 9, 2024
- Full Page
Key Takeaways
The recipient of the world’s first combined whole-eye and partial face transplant is doing well more than a year out from his groundbreaking surgery, NYU Langone doctors report.
Aaron James, a 46-year-old military vete...
Uterus Transplants Are Leading to Healthy Pregnancies
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- August 16, 2024
- Full Page
Uterine transplants are relatively rare and recent -- the first was performed in 2011, and to date a little more than 100 transplants have been conducted worldwide.
However, a new study finds that these procedures are often successful, leading to pregnancies and live bir...
Nation's Heart Transplant List Is Failing Sick Kids, Study Suggests
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- August 5, 2024
- Full Page
The U.S. heart transplant list for children isn’t accurately ranking the sickest kids highest, making it more likely they may die while waiting for a donor heart, a new study claims.
Some very sick children were categorized as category 2, the lowest of the three c...
Second Recipient of Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Has Died
- Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
- July 10, 2024
- Full Page
The second person to receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig has died, surgeons at NYU Langone Health announced Tuesday.
The 54-year-old patient, Lisa Pisano, had both kidney failure and
Doctors Perform Larynx Transplant in Cancer Patient
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- July 10, 2024
- Full Page
For years, Marty Kedian had been without a voice.
Kedian, who hails from Haverhill, Mass., has undergone dozens of surgeries while being treated for a rare form of laryngeal cancer.
As a result, he was robbed of his voice -- along with the ability to swallow and br...
Unhealthy Microbiome May Raise Death Risk After Organ Transplant
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- July 10, 2024
- Full Page
People with an "unhealthy"gut microbiome appear to be more likely to die following an organ transplant, a new study warns.
These gut microbe patterns are specifically associated with deaths from
Surgeons Perform a U.S. First: Kidney Transplant in Awake Patient
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- June 24, 2024
- Full Page
John Nicolas was deep into kidney transplant surgery when he decided to ask his doctors if they'd started yet.
"At one point during surgery, I recall asking, 'Should I be expecting the spinal anesthesia to kick in?'"Nicolas, 28, recalled in a news release. "They had alre...
Transplanted Pig Kidney Is Removed From Woman Who Received It
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- June 5, 2024
- Full Page
A woman who was the second person to ever receive a kidney from a genetically modified pig has had the transplanted organ removed due to complications linked to a heart pump she is using, her doctors said.
Lisa Pisano, 54, remains hospitalized and has been transferred ba...
Cancer & COVID Drove Him to Double-Lung Transplant
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- May 13, 2024
- Full Page
Chicago resident Arthur "Art"Gillespie fell ill in early March 2020 with COVID, after he and his father went to visit an uncle in a nursing facility.
"I was hospitalized for 12 days with a high fever and cough, and during that time, they were taking scans of my lungs, wh...
First Pig Kidney Recipient Dies Almost Two Months After Transplant
- Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
- May 13, 2024
- Full Page
Rick Slayman, the first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig, has died nearly two months after having the historic surgery.
Small Pump May Let Kids Stay Home As They Await New Heart
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- May 7, 2024
- Full Page
A small, implantable heart pump could help children await heart transplants at home rather than languishing in a hospital, according to a new study.
The pump is surgically attached to augment the heart's blood-pumping action, giving more time to find a donor heart, resea...
Patient Gets First-Ever Pig Kidney Transplant Plus Heart Pump
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- April 24, 2024
- Full Page
New Jersey native Lisa Pisano was staring down the end of her days.
The 54-year-old had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease, but several chronic medical conditi...
First Pig Kidney Transplant Patient Discharged From Hospital
- Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
- April 4, 2024
- Full Page
Rick Slayman, the first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig, headed home Wednesday after faring so well that he was released from the hospital just two weeks after his groundbreaking surgery.
"This moment -- leaving the hospital today w...
Doctor Gets First U.S. Lung-Liver Transplant for Advanced Lung Cancer
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- March 28, 2024
- Full Page
Dr. Gary Gibbon didn't have long to live.
A harsh cocktail of chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy for his advanced lung cancer had permanently d...
Black Men Less Likely to Receive Heart Transplants Than White Men or Women
- Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
- March 27, 2024
- Full Page
The odds in the United States that a well-functioning donor heart will go to a Black man are lower than for white transplant candidates of either gender, new research shows.
The news is troubling, since "Black patients have a two to three times greater risk of developing...
Surgeons Implant Pig Kidney Into First Living Human Patient
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- March 21, 2024
- Full Page
THURSDAY, March 21, 2024 (HealthDay news) -- For the first time ever, doctors have transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a human suffering from advanced kidney failure.
Such pig kidneys, altered to lower the risk of rejection and disease, have been successful...
Race, Ethnicity Plays Role in Liver Transplant Survival
- Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
- March 14, 2024
- Full Page
Researchers hope findings from a new study of liver transplant patients will lead to improved interventions for those from racial and ethnic minority groups.
The study -- led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas -- found the risk of dying while wait...
Weight-Loss Surgery Could Be Lifesaver for Folks Needing New Kidneys
- Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
- March 13, 2024
- Full Page
Weight-loss surgery may help patients struggling with obesity and kidney failure become eligible for a lifesaving transplant, researchers report.
Obesity is a key reason why some kidney patients are turned down for a transplant.
But weight-loss surgery "not only he...
Treatment Used on Donated Hearts May Be Useless, Even Harmful: Study
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- December 1, 2023
- Full Page
A technique doctors use to preserve donated organs is actually doing no good, and might even be harming the organs, a new study reports.
Physicians routinely dose deceased organ donors with thyroid hormones, in a bid to preserve heart function and keep the donors' organs...
Double-Lung Transplant, Breast Implants Save Life of Man Who Battled Vaping-Linked Illness
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- November 8, 2023
- Full Page
"Davey"Bauer hovered on the precipice of death, his lungs damaged by vaping and congested by antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.
Doctors saved his life with a jury-rigged artificial lung, a prompt double-lung transplant"¦ and a set of DD breast implants.
Doctors at No...
Second Person to Receive Pig Heart Dies Six Weeks After Transplant
- Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
- November 1, 2023
- Full Page
The second person to ever receive a transplanted pig heart has died.
Lawrence Faucette, 58, got the transplant just six weeks earlier at the University of Maryland Medical Center in an experimental procedure.
Unfortunately, the heart had been showing signs of rejec...
Donor's Immune Cells Could Help Transplant Recipients Avoid Organ Rejection
- Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
- October 16, 2023
- Full Page
A liver transplant can give people a new lease on life, but at the cost of lifelong immune-suppressing medication and its risks. Now an innovative approach to reduce, or possibly eliminate, certain patients' reliance on those drugs is showing early promise.
The tactic is...
Monkey Given Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Still Alive Two Years Later
- Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
- October 13, 2023
- Full Page
Two years after a gene-edited pig kidney was transplanted into a monkey, researchers report the monkey is still alive.
"We're the only group in the field to comprehensively address safety and efficacy of our donor organ with these edits,"said study co-author
Surgeons Perform Transplant of Gene-Tweaked Pig Heart Into Second Patient
- Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
- September 25, 2023
- Full Page
A second human patient has received a genetically altered pig heart as he battles the ravages of end-stage heart disease.
The 58-year-old man, Lawrence Faucette, received the pig organ at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
The medical team was ...
Implant Can Warn Weeks Early That Transplanted Organ Will Be Rejected
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- September 8, 2023
- Full Page
Receiving an organ transplant can be a nerve-wracking, if lifesaving, affair, said Dr. Joaquin Brieva, a kidney transplant recipient.
...
In a First, Scientists Grow Human Kidneys Inside Pigs
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- September 7, 2023
- Full Page
For the first time ever, a solid humanized organ has been grown from scratch in an animal -- a first step in a process that could potentially solve organ shortages and save countless lives.
Chinese researchers grew partially human early-stage kidneys inside embryonic pig...
In Primate Study, Antibody Treatment Prevents Organ Rejection After Transplant
- Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
- August 31, 2023
- Full Page
A new study in non-human primates shows potential for using a manmade monoclonal antibody to help prevent organ rejection after a transplant.
The antibody was successful in promoting graft survival after kidney and pancreatic islet cell transplantations, according to th...
Getting His Life Back: Regaining Strength After a Triple-Organ Transplant
- Denise Mann HealthDay Reporter
- August 28, 2023
- Full Page
Valance Sams Sr. believes that he has experienced "a miracle."
Sams, now 46, underwent a triple organ transplant in the spring of 2023, making him one of fewer than 50 people in the United States to ever receive three new organs via transplantation.
He received a n...
Improved Pig-to-Human Kidney Transplants Mark a Major Advance
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- August 16, 2023
- Full Page
Genetically engineered pig kidneys are nearing the point where they could provide a government-approved, sustainable supply of organs for sick humans awaiting a transplant, a pair of new studies argue.
A lightly modified pig kidney has continued to function more than a m...
'Walking Miracles': Born With Lungs Reversed, They Suffered Until Getting Double-Organ Transplants
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- August 8, 2023
- Full Page
Dennis Deer woke from surgery in utter disbelief that he was breathing normally.
He'd been on supplemental oxygen for two years, and "I didn't know what it was like not to have something on my face,"said Deer, 51, a Chicago-area politician and psychologist.
"I imme...
Many Hospitals Ignore Directives of Organ Transplant Waiting Lists: Study
- Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
- June 12, 2023
- Full Page
Many transplant centers routinely practice "list-diving,"when the top candidate among potential organ recipients is skipped in favor of someone further down the list, new research shows.
The top candidate is ranked that way based on an objective algorithm using age, wait...
New Approach to Transplants Could Boost Supply of Donor Hearts
- Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
- June 8, 2023
- Full Page
A new transplant method that "reanimates" donor hearts appears safe and effective, a new clinical trial has found -- in an advance that could substantially expand the supply of donor hearts available in the United States.
The trial tested an approach that allows doctors ...
Cool Storage Could Keep Lungs Ready for Transplant Longer
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
- April 24, 2023
- Full Page
Storing donor lungs at cool -- but not near freezing -- temperatures can markedly increase the length of time the organs can live outside the human body, a new study suggests.
Lungs stored at 50 degrees Fahrenheit remain healthy and viable for transplant up to four times...
Debunking Myths About Organ Donation
- Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
- April 9, 2023
- Full Page
Far more people need an organ transplant than there are organs available.
It doesn't have to be that way.
Dr. Johnny Hong, chief of transplantation at Penn State Health's Mi...