Heart Mass Better Predictor of Transplant Result

MedPage Today | Todd Neale

• Note that this retrospective cohort study demonstrated an association between undersized-heart transplants and increased mortality.
• Be aware that cardiac size was not directly measured; these results would be strengthened by a study that directly measured cardiac mass pre-transplantation.

Using equations that incorporate height, weight, age, and sex to predict heart mass may better allocate donor hearts to transplant recipients than considering body mass alone, a retrospective study suggested.

Although differences in body mass were not predictive of survival after heart transplantation, differences in predicted heart mass using those equations were related to survival up to 5 years after the operation, according to Robert Reed, MD, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues.

Specifically, patients who received the most undersized hearts had significantly increased risks of dying at 1 year (HR 1.25, 95% CI 1.02-1.54) and 5 years (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04-1.39), the researchers reported online in JACC: Heart Failure.

The study also pointed to heart size as an explanation for the worse transplant outcomes seen among men who receive donor hearts from women. Before adjustment, a sex mismatch between the donor and recipient was associated with increased mortality in male patients, but not in female patients. In a multivariate analysis that included predicted heart mass, a sex mismatch was no longer associated with survival in men.

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"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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Mother’s incredible weight loss to save sick son

Yahoo News | News 7, Australia 

Mother’s incredible weight loss to save sick son
An overweight mother in the UK has transformed her body in a bid to save her five-year-old son.

Charlene Howard, 33, dropped around 45 kilograms after being told her son may need a liver transplant, and that she would be the most suitable donor.

She told the Daily Mail that she started comfort eating after her son was diagnosed with a brain tumour, cystic fibrosis, and a liver disease.

"Every time I take him to hospital it gives me a little reminder. I would do anything for him, I just want him to be happy," she said.
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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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Transplant gives singer second chance

US Today | Aaron Nathans, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

Musician Reggie Harris was the recipient of a liver transplant in 2008 that was harvested at Christiana Hospital in Delaware. The transplant saved his life and he is healthy now.(Photo: Daniel Sato, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal)

PHILADELPHIA -- Reggie Harris has long made music with a sense of purpose, telling the story of how Harriet Tubman helped fugitives steal through slave states, and sharing songs of the civil rights movement.

That sense of purpose helped his husband-and-wife acoustic duo share its trademark positive energy, despite a degenerative liver condition that weakened him to the point he bathed five times a day to ease the itch that had overtaken his body.

But just as things looked grim, a second chance arrived five years ago from an anonymous liver donor who died in Delaware. Harris, 61, said he is thankful he will continue to be able to travel the world telling Tubman's story, as well as his own deliverance from sickness, thanks to the organ transplant.

"The gift that I have came from somebody else, so I can pay that forward," he said.

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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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Football Fans Team Up for Organ Match

UC San Diego Health System

Louis and William received their successful kidney transplant surgery at UC San Diego Health System.

Random stadium seat assignment leads to lifesaving transplant surgery

In October 2013, Louis Munoz donated one of his kidneys to William Lynch. The organ match would not have occurred without a bit of serendipity and a big love of football. Munoz and Lynch had been childhood friends, but hadn’t seen each other in years – then they found themselves randomly seated next to each other at a Chargers game.

“Louis and I knew each other as kids and then lost touch. Years later, by surprise, we ended up sitting right next to each other at Chargers games,” said William, a middle school teacher. “When I started missing games, Louis asked me why and I explained that due to kidney complications, I’d been unwell. His wife half-jokingly suggested that he give me a kidney.”

Louis immediately volunteered to be tested as a possible donor. William initially declined his friend’s offer, believing another donor would come through. But when that didn’t happen, Louis followed through and proved to be a match.

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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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Between Friends: Living Donors

WebMD | Bob Calandra

It's a trend that's changing transplant medicine. More and more people are willing to donate a kidney or part of a liver - while they're still alive.

Steven's voice filled with emotion when he talked about his long road to surgery. When he got to the part where his friend Michael offered him half of his liver, that's where he had to pause and collect himself.

"Having someone give you your life back -- it's hard to just say you're grateful," says Steven. "Gratitude doesn't do it. I don't know what the right word is."

The two men became friends over 20 years ago when Michael worked at a company managed by Steven. A few years later, Michael left his job and moved away. They stayed in touch, talking on the telephone a couple of times a year.

It was during one of those conversations that Michael learned that Steven had terminal liver disease brought on by hepatitis and needed a transplant. Steven was depressed because doctors had just disqualified a high school friend who had volunteered to be a donor. After a Transplant: What to Expect, How to Cope

"Right there in the middle of that conversation, I knew without a doubt what I was going to do," Michael recalled months later. "Something just came over me. It just felt right. I know it sounds strange, but that is just the way it was."

Without a word to Steven, Michael had his blood type tested and discovered that he matched his friend. "I called and asked if he'd like to have half of my liver," Michael says. "He said, 'You're crazy.' But I told him I wanted to do it."

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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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Grief, hope and a living legacy

Lake Norman Citizen | John Deem

Gary Simmons at the center of it all with wife, Lib, and members of both his and the Long families.

Transplant recipient called to register more donors.

DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Gary Simmons is thankful beyond words that Peggy Long’s family made the decision it did almost one year ago.

He feels just as strongly that it’s a choice no family should have to make.

Long, 59, of Kannapolis, a 59-year-old grandmother of seven, died last Jan. 22 at Carolinas Medical Center Northeast after suffering a stroke. Moments after her death, hospital officials came to Long’s family with a question:

Would they be willing to have Long’s organs harvested for possible transplant?

Long was not registered as an organ donor, so the grieving family’s consent was required.

About 15 miles away, the 63-year-old Simmons and his wife, the Rev. Lib McGregor Simmons, pastor at Davidson College Presbyterian Church, were settling in for the night in their Davidson home. A genetic disorder had resulted in Simmons developing cirrhosis, and his liver had deteriorated to the point where his doctors told him he would not live much longer without a transplant.

Within hours, one family’s hope would bloom from the grief of another.

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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

Read More

Snow Sculpture Used To Find Organ Donor

KARE
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (KARE) -- It's nearly impossible not to notice the giant, smiling kidney snow sculpture that has made its home on Hillside Trail in Cottage Grove.

"We're on a predominant corner on a busy street in Cottage Grove," said Jennie Gorbunow.

If Jennie is the brain behind the organ work, her husband, Jim, is the brawn.

"I took some pieces of wood out of my garage and I built a big square three quarter box, and I took my snow blower and threw a bunch of snow into that," explained Jim Gorbunow.

With the help of his brother, the two packed down a good 7 feet of snow and started to chisel away.

This was before sub-zero temps and on a warmer day.

"They did an amazing job," said Jennie. "He and his brother are pretty artistic."

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______________________________________________________ 

"You have the power to SAVE lives." 

To register as a donor TODAY

In California: 

www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 

Outside California: 

www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

Read More