August 2018

Penn Medicine launched an innovative clinical trial in 2016 to test the effect of transplanting kidneys from donors with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) into patients currently on the kidney waitlist who do not have the virus and would opt in to receive these otherwise unused organs. After transplantation, recipients were treated with an antiviral therapy in an effort to cure the virus. To date, 20 patients have...

Read More

Nearly 2,000 children under 18 years old are on the U.S. organ transplant waiting list. Of those, approximately 500 are children ages 1 to 5. In order to raise awareness of the need for organ donors, several transplant organizations - including Transplant Families - is introducing the first annual National Pediatric Transplant Week, April 23-27. As part of National Donate Life Month, this week gives...

Read More

A novel imaging test using the imaging agent 18F-fluorothymidine (18FLT) identifies success of HSCT engraftment weeks before a traditional blood test. This imaging technique — a less painful option than bone marrow biopsies — also allowed researchers to better understand the engraftment process following HSCT. A study led by blood and marrow transplant specialists at Children's National Health System suggest that 18FLT could be useful to assess subclinical...

Read More