Johns Hopkins approved for first HIV-positive organ transplants

Editor's Note

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, is the first and only center in the US to be approved by the United Network for Organ Sharing to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants.

The hospital will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and the first in the world to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant.

Organ transplantation is especially important for HIV patients because they die on the waiting list much faster than patients without HIV, according to Dorry L. Segev, MD, PhD, associated professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Johns Hopkins recently received approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to be the first hospital in the U.S. to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants. The institution will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and the first in the world to execute an HIV-positive to HIV-positive liver transplant.