Editor's Note Aaron James says he’s “pretty much back to being a normal guy, doing normal things” a year after undergoing the world’s first whole-eye and partial-face transplant at NYU Langone Health, according to a September 9 report from the academic medical center. The transplant restored essential facial functions, and…

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Editor's Note A recent study analyzing 30 years of national registry data shows a significant decline in perioperative mortality among living kidney donors, MedPage Today August 28 reports. From 2013 to 2022, the mortality rate within 90 days post-donation was 0.9 per 10,000 donations, compared to 2.9 per 10,000 in…

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Editor's Note Uterus transplants are feasible, but the procedure is associated with considerable risks for both patient and organ donor, according to a study published August 15 in JAMA.   Conducted at a large US tertiary care center, the study involved 20 women with absolute uterine-factor infertility—a condition that prevents…

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Editor's Note A Massachusetts man, Marty Kedian, regained his voice after a pioneering larynx transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, The Associated Press (AP) reported July 9. According to the article, Kedian is only the third person in the U.S. to receive a total larynx transplant and the first…

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Editor's Note In a first for Northwestern Medicine, surgeons performed a kidney transplant on an awake patient, CBS News reported June 24. John Nicholas, 28, of Chicago, experienced no pain during the May 24 procedure, in which he received an organ from a childhood friend. He was discharged the next…

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Editor's Note A retrospective cohort study found transplanting kidneys from donors who underwent dialysis resulted in no long-term differences in graft failure, kidney function, or death, but recipients had significantly higher risk for delayed graft function (DGF). According to a May 23 MedPage Today report on the study, originally published…

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Editor's Note The lack of available hearts for transplantation combined with the recent recall of Abbott’s HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device (LVAD) “makes the current therapy landscape for heart failure much more dire,” according to a May 20 report in Medical Device Network. The recall of the device, which…

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Editor's Note Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy improves eligibility for kidney transplants in patients with obesity as well as advanced chronic kidney disease, according to a Mayo Clinic study. According to a May 2 report on the results, the surgical weight-loss procedure also reduces the risk of cardiovascular conditions, such as diabetes…

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Editor's Note The second-ever living recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney was the first to have the new organ paired with a mechanical heart pump, according to an April 24 CNN report. The subject, 54-year-old Lisa Pisano, underwent the milestone surgery at NYU Langone Health. She had heart failure and…

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Editor's Note A new method of organ preservation could allow researchers a much longer window to keep transplanted organs alive. Medical Xpress reported on the findings April 5.   Typically, hearts awaiting transplant are maintained in cold static storage – in which they are kept on ice until transplanted and…

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