PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Live donor liver transplantation found safe and effective for acute liver failure

2015-03-19
(Press-News.org) When patients develop acute liver failure, severe complications arise rapidly after the first signs of liver disease, and patients' health can deteriorate rapidly. New research published in the American Journal of Transplantation indicates that emergency evaluations of living liver donors can be conducted safely to allow acute liver failure patients to undergo transplantation before their condition worsens.

If untreated, acute liver failure results in coma and death in more than 80 percent of cases. The only effective therapy is liver transplantation, but the deceased donor supply of livers is often not timely enough. Live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is an attractive option to overcome this problem, but studies haven't looked at the safety of the procedure for acute liver failure patients or donors who may have to have last-minute examinations to determine their compatibility. Also, experts worry that individuals perhaps should not be allowed to make donor-related decisions when faced with the death of a loved one, although denying someone the opportunity to save a loved one's life is sub-optimal as well.

Markus Selzner, MD, of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program at Toronto General Hospital, and his colleagues now report on their hospital's experience using LDLT for treating adult patients suffering from acute liver failure. From 2006 to 2013, all seven patients with acute liver failure who underwent a LDLT were compared with all 26 patients who underwent a deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT). For LDLT, liver transplantation was performed within 18 to 72 hours after living donor evaluation was initiated.

LDLT versus DDLT had similar incidences of overall postoperative complications (31% versus 43%), and no differences were detected between LDLT and DDLT patients regarding 1-, 3-, and 5-year liver and patient survival rates. No severe donor complications occurred after LDLT.

"Since acute liver failure can deteriorate within hours or days to coma or death, waiting time is critical for this patient group," said Dr. Selzner. "If a living donor is available, liver transplantation can be performed without delay, reducing the risk of death or permanent disability of the recipient."

In an accompanying editorial, Jean Emond, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and Charles Rosen, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, congratulate the researchers for their pioneering work. They noted, however, that "further experience is necessary to demonstrate that urgent evaluations can be done safely, accurately, and with avoidance of coercion and undue stress on potential donors and their families."

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Fast-food ban in L.A. fails to improve diets or cut obesity, study finds

2015-03-19
A Los Angeles ordinance designed to curb obesity in low-income areas by restricting the opening of new fast-food restaurants has failed to reduce fast-food consumption or reduce obesity rates in the targeted neighborhoods, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Since the fast-food restrictions were passed in 2008, overweight and obesity rates in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods targeted by the law have increased faster than in other parts of the city or other parts of the county, according to findings published online by the journal Social Science & Medicine. "The ...

Melatonin can help you get a good night's sleep in a noisy environment

2015-03-19
Using melatonin could provide more and better quality sleep compared to using an eye mask and earplugs in a simulated noisy and illuminated environment, according to research published in open access journal Critical Care. This study was carried out on healthy subjects but could have future implications for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Melatonin is the hormone secreted by the body to regulate sleep, usually in periods of darkness. Synthetically produced melatonin is used to boost the body's own melatonin levels to treat some sleep disorders, and sometimes as a ...

Dramatic rise expected in adults living with cystic fibrosis

2015-03-19
The number of people living with cystic fibrosis into adulthood is expected to increase dramatically by 2025, prompting calls for the development of adult cystic fibrosis services to meet the demand. People living with cystic fibrosis have previously had low life expectancy, but improvements in treatments and care in the last three decades have led to an increase in survival with almost all children now living to around 40 years. In the first study of its kind, published in the European Respiratory Journal today (19 March 2015), researchers have provided forecasts ...

Standardized packaging with large graphic health warnings encouraged more thoughts about quitting

2015-03-19
Introduction of standardised packaging for tobacco products in Australia prompted more smokers to think about quitting and to attempt to quit, show findings of surveys of adults smokers published in Tobacco Control. In introducing standardised tobacco packaging with large graphic health warnings in December 2012, the Australian government's main aim was to reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products to young people and so reduce the likelihood of them taking up smoking. In other studies the researchers from Melbourne in Victoria found that standardised ...

Following gestational diabetes, obese women who put on 5 kg are more than 40 times more likely to develop full blown type 2 diabetes

2015-03-19
New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that in women who have developed gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy, being obese before the pregnancy and putting on more weight after it massively increases the risk of later developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). For women who are obese before pregnancy (BMI 30 or higher) and put on 5 kg or more after giving birth, the risk of developing T2D is 43 times higher than for women who remain lean before pregnancy and gain 5 kg or less. The research, ...

The Lancet: Targeted drug doubles progression free survival in Hodgkin lymphoma

2015-03-19
A phase 3 trial of brentuximab vedotin (BV), the first new drug for Hodgkin lymphoma in over 30 years, shows that adults with hard-to-treat Hodgkin lymphoma given BV immediately after stem cell transplant survived without the disease progressing for twice as long as those given placebo (43 months vs 24 months). The findings, published in The Lancet, are potentially practice changing for this young cancer population who have exhausted other treatment options and for whom prognosis is poor. "No medication available today has had such dramatic results in patients with ...

MSU doctors' discovery of how malaria kills children will lead to life-saving treatments

2015-03-18
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Malaria kills a child every minute. While medical researchers have successfully developed effective drugs to kill the malaria parasite, efforts to treat the effects of the disease have not been as successful. But that soon may change. In a groundbreaking study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Michigan State University's Dr. Terrie Taylor and her team discovered what causes death in children with cerebral malaria, the deadliest form of the disease. "We discovered that some children with cerebral malaria develop massively swollen ...

Why people with diabetes can't buy generic insulin

2015-03-18
Fast Facts Drug companies have made incremental improvements that kept insulin under patent for more than 90 years. Insulin can cost $120 to $400 per month for patients with no prescription drug coverage. Many patients with diabetes have lapses in medication that can lead to serious complications requiring hospitalization. A generic version of insulin, the lifesaving diabetes drug used by 6 million people in the United States, has never been available in this country because drug companies have made incremental improvements that kept insulin under patent from ...

Cardiometabolic risk factors harden arteries early in Mexican-Americans

2015-03-18
Cardiometabolic risk factors, such as high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar, appear to have a bigger effect than obesity on hardening arteries early among Mexican-Americans, according to research in the Journal of the American Heart Association. "Even among non-obese Mexican-Americans, there is already a high prevalence of clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors," said Susan T. Laing, M.D., M.Sc., lead study author and professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. "We will begin to see the impact of the high ...

Who will develop memory problems? New tool may help predict

2015-03-18
MINNEAPOLIS - Researchers have developed a new scoring system to help determine which elderly people may be at a higher risk of developing the memory and thinking problems that can lead to dementia, according to a new study published in the March 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our goal is to identify memory issues at the earliest possible stages," said study author Ronald C. Petersen, MD, PhD, of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Understanding what ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Live donor liver transplantation found safe and effective for acute liver failure