| News From Transplant Week of June 9, 2002 / Vol. 3 No. 23 |
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Interest Growing in Kidney Transplants From "Incompatible" Living Donors |
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Johns Hopkins reports receiving a growing number of inquiries from kidney patients interested in a new blood filtering technique that permits the transplant of kidneys from living donors with incompatible blood types or tissue programs. "We've been getting calls from all over the country and Canada, Singapore, Italy," said Janet Hiller, a nurse in charge of coordinating transfers and educating people about the procedure. "That's exciting. You realize you're offering people something that before now they haven't been able to receive." Hopkins researchers reported at the recent American transplant scientific meeting that by using the technique called plasmapheresis, they have been 93 percent successful with kidney transplants for 29 patients -- five with incompatible blood types with their donors, and 24 with incompatible tissue proteins (see earlier Transplant Week story). Several other hospitals reportedly are developing similary programs, though for the most part utilizing donors with incompatible tissue proteins and not incompatible blood types. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said it has performed a "handful" of both kinds of transplants since 1999, and the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia are seeking to develop programs. Patients interested
in the Johns Hopkins Incompatible Kidney Transplant Program can
obtain more information by calling 888-304-5069. Other sources: Johns Hopkins, Baltimore Sun |
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