Diabetes In Control.comIn conclusion, pancreas transplant alone is now considered a "highly successful long-term option" for patients with "brittle diabetes and recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia and/or hypoglycemic unawareness." |
| Pancreas transplant alone (PTA) may be a viable option for fragile individuals with uncontrolled diabetes due to its promising outcomes.... Unlike an individual on an insulin regimen, individuals with a pancreas transplant can bring their blood glucose levels to a normal level without the risk of hypoglycemia. A transplant is also more likely to prevent or stop the progression of complications associated with diabetes. In a study involving the International Pancreas Transplant Registry, a little less than 2,000 pancreas transplant alone cases were reviewed from the year 1966 to 2011. Using the Kaplan-Meier method and uni and multivariate analyses, patient and graft survival rates were calculated as a measure of transplant success. In more recent years, between 2007 and 2011, patient survival rates generally increased with "more than 95% at 1 year post transplant and more than 90% at 5 years." In regards to graft survival rates, patients on a tacrolimus based maintenance therapy had an 86% survival rate after their first year and a 69% rate at 3 years. Those who were on a sirolimus based maintenance therapy had slightly higher graft survival rates, with 94% during their first year and 84% during their second year. According to the study researchers, these rates have progressively gotten better due to the decline in "technical and immunologic graft failure rates." Improved outcomes have also decreased the need for kidney transplants. In conclusion, pancreas transplant alone is now considered a "highly successful long-term option" for patients with "brittle diabetes and recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia and/or hypoglycemic unawareness." Gruessner RWG, Gruessner AC. Pancreas Transplant Alone: A Procedure Coming of Age. Diabetes Care. 2013;36(8):2440-2447.
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Showing posts with label diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diabetes. Show all posts
Sunday, September 15, 2013
How Pancreas Transplants Outcomes Have Improved
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Pancreas transplant saves diabetes patients
Organ Donation Provides Diabetes Patients With Sudden, Life-Changing Cure
Both Leander Torres of Richmond Hill, Queens and Neal Bertron of Long Island have lived most of their lives with type 1 diabetes.
"You've got to take shots every night, maybe three to four times a day. It was a challenge," Torres says.
But after receiving new pancreata, they are now cured.
"It's a dramatic, immediate effect," says Dr. Lloyd Ratner, a transplant surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
The new pancreas restored their bodies' ability to control blood sugar levels, meaning no more insulin shots, or finger pricks.
"It’s freedom, complete freedom," says Bertron. "I'm trying to comprehend all of it."
Bertron and Torres are two of three patients that received pancreas transplants within a 36-hour period at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in February.
"There are only about 1,200 pancreas transplants performed in the United States a year, so it's very unusual to have three done in one institution in such a short period of time," Ratner says.
In New York, the odds are even worse.
"New York has amongst the lowest registration rates on drivers' licenses and through an online registry of virtually all the states. We also have some of the lowest donation rates," Ratner says.
At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, more than 70 people are waiting for pancreas transplants, hoping they too can get a new lease on life.
"They can live totally normal lives once they get out past the early period," Ratner says.
For Bertron, that means greater possibilities with his career.
"I don’t have to be in one location. I can go anywhere," Bertron says.
Torres admits the recovery has been hard, but is also excited about what's to come.
"Futuristic-wise? I don't think there's no stopping me," he says.
Ratner hopes as more people learn about how transformative transplants can be for those in need, they will be more willing to discuss the option with their loved ones, possibly turning one family's tragedy into another's miracle.
“You Have the Power to Donate Life – Sign-up today! Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Monday, April 02, 2012
Consultant blames drinking, obesity and virus for dramatic rise in liver disease
By Claire Lomax, Telegraph & Argus, Bradford, England
Bradford faces an ‘explosion’ of people suffering from liver disease in the next ten years, a doctor has warned.
Heavy drinking, obesity and hepatitis B and C are behind a dramatic rise in the number of people in the district seeking treatment for liver disease.
Between 2001 and 2009 deaths from liver disease rose by 25 per cent and the numbers of patients waiting for a liver transplant are increasing rapidly.
There are currently eight adult patients in the Bradford district waiting for a new liver – up from three in July 2010.
Dr Sulleman Moreea, a consultant gastroenterologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said while people were aware of the dangers of alcohol, more people needed to be aware of other causes of liver disease.
“There is a silent disease out there – hepatitis B and C,” he said. “When I started work in Bradford in 2004 I had 150 patients with hepatitis C on my books. Today I have 780 patients.
“If you don’t treat these patients they will develop cirrhosis of the liver. Every two months we are seeing a middle aged person dying from hepatitis C and we will be seeing more and more. We have people desperate for a new liver – some who have waited for three years.
“In the next ten years expect an explosion of patients with liver disease from hepatitis C.”
Thousands of people could already be infected with hepatitis and unaware they are carrying the virus, he believes.
The virus is 100 times more infectious than HIV, with no known cure, however, it can be controlled by drugs. Without treatment, it leads to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
The blood-borne viral infection is spread through sharing contaminated needles, non-sterilised equipment for tattooing, acupuncture or body piercing, from an infected mother to her baby at birth or through a blood transfusion in a country where blood is not screened.
To counteract the spread of this disease Dr Moreea set up a hepatitis C treatment programme in Bradford in 2005, which is now taking more and more referrals. A new drug has also recently been approved by NICE for use in the NHS which is effective in treating in hepatitis C patients, although it will cost between £18,000 and £22,000 per patient.
And a dietician is working in Bradford specifically to help obese patients with fatty liver disease.
“This is what we need to be investing in to prevent people from dying,” said Dr Moreea. “There are around 110 liver transplants carried out in Leeds per year for the whole of the north of England, so disproportionately Bradford has a bit of a problem.”
Bradford faces an ‘explosion’ of people suffering from liver disease in the next ten years, a doctor has warned.
Heavy drinking, obesity and hepatitis B and C are behind a dramatic rise in the number of people in the district seeking treatment for liver disease.
Between 2001 and 2009 deaths from liver disease rose by 25 per cent and the numbers of patients waiting for a liver transplant are increasing rapidly.
There are currently eight adult patients in the Bradford district waiting for a new liver – up from three in July 2010.
Dr Sulleman Moreea, a consultant gastroenterologist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said while people were aware of the dangers of alcohol, more people needed to be aware of other causes of liver disease.
“There is a silent disease out there – hepatitis B and C,” he said. “When I started work in Bradford in 2004 I had 150 patients with hepatitis C on my books. Today I have 780 patients.
“If you don’t treat these patients they will develop cirrhosis of the liver. Every two months we are seeing a middle aged person dying from hepatitis C and we will be seeing more and more. We have people desperate for a new liver – some who have waited for three years.
“In the next ten years expect an explosion of patients with liver disease from hepatitis C.”
Thousands of people could already be infected with hepatitis and unaware they are carrying the virus, he believes.
The virus is 100 times more infectious than HIV, with no known cure, however, it can be controlled by drugs. Without treatment, it leads to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
The blood-borne viral infection is spread through sharing contaminated needles, non-sterilised equipment for tattooing, acupuncture or body piercing, from an infected mother to her baby at birth or through a blood transfusion in a country where blood is not screened.
To counteract the spread of this disease Dr Moreea set up a hepatitis C treatment programme in Bradford in 2005, which is now taking more and more referrals. A new drug has also recently been approved by NICE for use in the NHS which is effective in treating in hepatitis C patients, although it will cost between £18,000 and £22,000 per patient.
And a dietician is working in Bradford specifically to help obese patients with fatty liver disease.
“This is what we need to be investing in to prevent people from dying,” said Dr Moreea. “There are around 110 liver transplants carried out in Leeds per year for the whole of the north of England, so disproportionately Bradford has a bit of a problem.”
“You Have the Power to Donate Life – to become an organ and tissue donor Sign-up today!
Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
New Zealand, register at Organ Donation New Zealand
South Africa, http://www.odf.org.za/
United States, donatelife.net
United Kingdom, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Breakthrough in Diabetes Treatment
By Maria Hill technorati.com
There is new hope for diabetics, according to the Neural Stem Cell Transplant May Tackle Diabetes report on October 14, 2011. Researchers in Japan have found a way to regenerate the beta cells of the pancreas, which makes possible a long awaited cure to this devastating disease that affects as many as 200 million people on our planet. The research finding were published in EMBO Molecular Medicine on October 6.
Insulin dependent diabetics are plagued by insufficient insulin production in the pancreas, the organ responsible its production. The pancreas is a shaped like a fish and located behind the stomach in the abdomen. Insulin is produced by beta cells which are located in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. When the beta cells do not function, insulin injections are necessary since diabetes is a debilitating chronic disease with many serious and life threatening complications. Diabetes treatment has been hindered by the low donations of pancreatic beta cells to regenerate the beta cells.
Researchers in Japan have found a creative solution to the problem using neural stem cells. The research which was conducted at the AIST Institute in Tsukuba, Japan was led by Dr. Tomoko Kuwabara. Human stem cells can be differentiated which means that there is a process though which stem cells can be adapted to different cell replacement roles in the body. This technique is particularly useful for situations which target a single cell as in the case of diabetes. "As diabetes is caused by the lack of a single type of cell the condition is an ideal target for cell replacement treatments," said Kuwabara.
Image Credit: TopNewsHealth
The research transplanted cells from the hippocampus and olfactory bulb in the front of the brain into a diabetic rate. The cells then began to act like the beta cells of the pancreas. They produced insulin and when removed the rat's sugar levels rose again. Since these brain cells do not normally produce insulin, the results were a pleasant surprise because they demonstrated that the brain cells could be used as an effective treatment for diabetes.
Science Daily noted the encouraging peer response to the research results: "The discovery of stem cells which have virtually unlimited self-renewal raises great expectations for their use in regenerative medicine. The isolation and cultivation of stem cells as a renewable source of beta cells would be a major breakthrough," wrote Onur Basak and Hans Clevers, from the Hubrecht Institute for Development Biology and Stem Cell Research, in their close up paper, published in the same issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Not only does this research provide great hope for diabetics but it also offers new hope for many others suffering from diseases created by non functioning cells like diabetes. It is truly a breakthrough which will be welcomed by many.
There is new hope for diabetics, according to the Neural Stem Cell Transplant May Tackle Diabetes report on October 14, 2011. Researchers in Japan have found a way to regenerate the beta cells of the pancreas, which makes possible a long awaited cure to this devastating disease that affects as many as 200 million people on our planet. The research finding were published in EMBO Molecular Medicine on October 6.
Insulin dependent diabetics are plagued by insufficient insulin production in the pancreas, the organ responsible its production. The pancreas is a shaped like a fish and located behind the stomach in the abdomen. Insulin is produced by beta cells which are located in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. When the beta cells do not function, insulin injections are necessary since diabetes is a debilitating chronic disease with many serious and life threatening complications. Diabetes treatment has been hindered by the low donations of pancreatic beta cells to regenerate the beta cells.
Researchers in Japan have found a creative solution to the problem using neural stem cells. The research which was conducted at the AIST Institute in Tsukuba, Japan was led by Dr. Tomoko Kuwabara. Human stem cells can be differentiated which means that there is a process though which stem cells can be adapted to different cell replacement roles in the body. This technique is particularly useful for situations which target a single cell as in the case of diabetes. "As diabetes is caused by the lack of a single type of cell the condition is an ideal target for cell replacement treatments," said Kuwabara.
The research transplanted cells from the hippocampus and olfactory bulb in the front of the brain into a diabetic rate. The cells then began to act like the beta cells of the pancreas. They produced insulin and when removed the rat's sugar levels rose again. Since these brain cells do not normally produce insulin, the results were a pleasant surprise because they demonstrated that the brain cells could be used as an effective treatment for diabetes.
Science Daily noted the encouraging peer response to the research results: "The discovery of stem cells which have virtually unlimited self-renewal raises great expectations for their use in regenerative medicine. The isolation and cultivation of stem cells as a renewable source of beta cells would be a major breakthrough," wrote Onur Basak and Hans Clevers, from the Hubrecht Institute for Development Biology and Stem Cell Research, in their close up paper, published in the same issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Not only does this research provide great hope for diabetics but it also offers new hope for many others suffering from diseases created by non functioning cells like diabetes. It is truly a breakthrough which will be welcomed by many.
“You Have the Power to Donate Life – to become an organ and tissue donor Sign-up today!
Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
New Zealand, register at Organ Donation New Zealand
South Africa, http://www.odf.org.za/
United States, organdonor.gov
United Kingdom, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Kidney/Pancreas recipient to renew marriage vows
Little Miss Sunshine's second life with her one love
Looking forward ... Patricia and Russell Scheetz. Photo: Janie Barrett
By Alicia Wood The Brisbane Times, Australia
THE next time Patricia Scheetz walks down the aisle, guests will focus on her vibrant red wedding dress, not her illness.
Mrs Scheetz and her husband Russell are looking forward to renewing their vows next year in Port Douglas.
At their original wedding ceremony three years ago, she was seriously ill and struggled through. ''I nearly missed the entire wedding the first time around; they kept having to rehydrate me,'' she said.
Known as ''Little Miss Sunshine'' to her friends, Mrs Scheetz, 28, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was a toddler.
She has no family history of the disease, which caused kidney failure 18 months ago. Her only hope was kidney and pancreas transplants. Last month, she was lucky enough to find compatible donors and had the transplants at Westmead Hospital. Very quickly, she noticed her body improving.
''After the operation I felt upbeat,'' she said. ''I thought I would feel like I was in the wars. But I was capable of ringing Russell. I just felt better within myself.''
It was a phone call Russell will never forget. ''I almost fell over,'' he said. ''I thought it was one of the nurses calling from her phone.''
Mrs Scheetz is one of the faces of Transplant Australia's ''Journey of Hope'' campaign, aimed at encouraging people to discuss organ donation, and register as donors. During her illness she embarked on a social media campaign to encourage people to sign the donor register.
Her doctor, Jeremy Chapman, director of renal medicine at Westmead Hospital, said she was one of the lucky ones.
''Every year, about 70 people in Australia have end-stage kidney failure from type 1 diabetes, 45 to 50 are suitable for a transplant and, of those, we do about 45,'' Dr Chapman said.
For years, Mrs Scheetz could barely feel her feet, which had turned purplish because of poor circulation. Now she is regaining the feeling.
Her illness made her legally blind, but her eyesight will now stop deteriorating, although she won't fully regain her sight.
With recovery, she said, she looked forward to the freedom of ''not being tied to a machine''.
''For 27 years I have been injecting myself four times a day, monitoring my sugar intake, and for 18 months since my kidney failure I had dialysis four times a week,'' she said.
''There was no way I could hold down a job, and now I won't have to think about any of that.''
She wants to work with Transplant Australia in marketing. She is also looking forward to a summer without restrictions on how much liquid she can drink.
''I just want to drink a long, cold glass on a hot summer's day. I'm so excited about the simple little things like that.''
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at organdonor.gov (Go to top right to select your state)
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
High-fat diet may help reverse kidney damage
After reading this
thenewstribune.com
LOS ANGELES – A high-fat “ketogenic” diet may reverse the kidney damage caused by diabetes, a study published online last week by the journal PLoS One reports.
Past research has shown that lowering blood sugar through diet can prevent kidney failure but not reverse it in patients with diabetes. Lead author Charles Mobbs, a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, said that this study – in which mice were fed a high-fat diet of 5 percent carbohydrate, 8 percent protein and a whopping 87 percent fat – was the first to show that dietary intervention alone is enough to reverse kidney failure caused by diabetes.
That’s hopeful news, but there’s a serious problem: Following a ketogenic diet is brutal. A November 2010 article in the New York Times Magazine detailed one family’s experience putting their young son on the diet to treat his epilepsy. The boy isn’t allowed to eat such staples of childhood as cookies or macaroni and cheese. His mother has to weigh every morsel that passes his lips. At the time the article was published, he had been on the diet for almost two years.
“We figure that in an average week, Sam consumes a quart and a third of heavy cream, nearly a stick and a half of butter, 13 teaspoons of coconut oil, 20 slices of bacon and 9 eggs,” wrote the boy’s father, journalist Fred Vogelstein, who noted that the ketogenic diet is “only for the desperate.”
Mobbs and his co-authors admit that the ketogenic diet “is probably too extreme for chronic use in adult patients.” But they suggest as well that “it is plausible that only transient exposure to the diet will ... in effect “reset” the pathological process.” Or, they write, “it is possible that a pharmacological intervention that mimcs these effects might be sufficient to reverse pathology.”
Let’s hope. Nice as it sounds (in theory) to chow down daily on butter and cream, it’s not something most of us would want to do for any extended period of time.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today!
For other Canadian provinces click here
For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Immune Modulating Treatments for Type 1 Diabetes
By Linda Fugate EmpowHER
If you need an organ transplant and you have an identical twin willing to donate, you have an excellent chance for success in most cases. Unfortunately, there are exceptions. Patients with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce insulin because of autoimmune damage to the pancreas. The medical literature reports that partial pancreas transplants have been performed between identical twins, with healthy donor and diabetic recipient. This should have cured the diabetes. But it did not cure the autoimmune process that destroyed the recipient twin's original pancreas. The transplanted partial pancreas was also destroyed in a short time.
Type 1 diabetes patients are at risk of damage to many organs and tissues from blood sugar levels outside the normal range. When kidney failure occurs, a treatment option is a combined kidney/pancreas transplantation. Immunosuppressive drugs are necessary for the kidney transplant in almost all cases (since most people don't have identical twins). When the donor kidney comes from a cadaver, it seems reasonable to give the recipient a new pancreas as well. A recent article in the Diabetes medical journal reports on three such patients. All received thymoglobulin and daclizumab as immunosuppressive drugs. Two also received rituximab. These drugs were sufficient to save the new kidneys from immune attack, but the new pancreases were also damaged, and type 1 diabetes returned.
Mycophenolate mofetil has been tried on patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in another attempt to stop the autoimmune process. Unfortunately, it was not effective, either alone or in combination with daclizumab.
These failed attempts to stop disease progression with standard immunosuppressive drugs are undoubtedly frustrating to researchers and patients alike. However, they do provide important data. The immune system is perhaps the most complicated system in our bodies, and knowing what does not work gives us clues about where to look next.
Research approaches using blood-derived stem cells have demonstrated promising results in animal models. Check with your doctor to see what the latest results mean to you.
See article for references
Linda Fugate is a scientist and writer in Austin, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her background includes academic and industrial research in materials science. She currently writes song lyrics and health articles.
If you need an organ transplant and you have an identical twin willing to donate, you have an excellent chance for success in most cases. Unfortunately, there are exceptions. Patients with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce insulin because of autoimmune damage to the pancreas. The medical literature reports that partial pancreas transplants have been performed between identical twins, with healthy donor and diabetic recipient. This should have cured the diabetes. But it did not cure the autoimmune process that destroyed the recipient twin's original pancreas. The transplanted partial pancreas was also destroyed in a short time.
Type 1 diabetes patients are at risk of damage to many organs and tissues from blood sugar levels outside the normal range. When kidney failure occurs, a treatment option is a combined kidney/pancreas transplantation. Immunosuppressive drugs are necessary for the kidney transplant in almost all cases (since most people don't have identical twins). When the donor kidney comes from a cadaver, it seems reasonable to give the recipient a new pancreas as well. A recent article in the Diabetes medical journal reports on three such patients. All received thymoglobulin and daclizumab as immunosuppressive drugs. Two also received rituximab. These drugs were sufficient to save the new kidneys from immune attack, but the new pancreases were also damaged, and type 1 diabetes returned.
Mycophenolate mofetil has been tried on patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in another attempt to stop the autoimmune process. Unfortunately, it was not effective, either alone or in combination with daclizumab.
These failed attempts to stop disease progression with standard immunosuppressive drugs are undoubtedly frustrating to researchers and patients alike. However, they do provide important data. The immune system is perhaps the most complicated system in our bodies, and knowing what does not work gives us clues about where to look next.
Research approaches using blood-derived stem cells have demonstrated promising results in animal models. Check with your doctor to see what the latest results mean to you.
See article for references
Linda Fugate is a scientist and writer in Austin, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her background includes academic and industrial research in materials science. She currently writes song lyrics and health articles.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
Monday, December 01, 2008
Invention Circulates Interest Among Diabetics, Organ Transplant Patients
I'm always pleased to report on research that has potential for improving the organ transplant process and the "wonder-cloth" described here may be a breakthrough. Organs must be preserved and transported as quickly as possible to the recipient within hours of being removed from the donor and this may have some future benefit.
Fiber ‘Wrap’ Preserves Tissue and Encourages Blood Vessels to Open
University of Texas at Dallas
Scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas have filed a patent disclosure on a medical device that looks like a blue elastic bandage and acts like a wonder-cloth that helps preserve transplant organs, improve circulation and heal wounds.
Chemistry Professor Kenneth Balkus and Ph.D. student Harvey Liu say Liu’s early work on self-healing smart films led to the new, blue bandage that releases a controlled, steady dose of nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide (NO) is known to open blood vessels and keep them relaxed and flexible—key factors in keeping transplant organs viable and offering hope to diabetic patients who suffer from low blood flow in their extremities, especially the feet.
The development earned Liu a finalist position in the Collegiate Inventors competition, where he competed against other science, mathematics, engineering and technology inventors from universities including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“This research – and working in the Balkus group at UT Dallas, for that matter – has been an exciting journey,” Liu said.
“We started with nothing but an idea, one that evolved into a tangible product that we could potentially use to help people address ailments ranging from diabetes to hair growth to the preservation of transplant organs,” Liu said. “I’ve found the journey so rewarding.”
Balkus said the bandage’s blue color comes from synthetic zeolite nanoparticles throughout the material.
“The composite papers were fabricated by electrospinning biodegradable polymer fibers that contain zeolites or diazeniumdiolates,” Balkus said. “Upon exposure to moisture, the polymer fibers degrade and the NO is released.”
Wound dressings have evolved dramatically from strips of cloth ripped by hand into antiseptic marvels of modern medicine. Liu said he expects clothing or material to be another way for the zeolite cloth to help people.
“We’re interested in evaluating how well textiles—socks—or wraps made from this material can promote blood flow in the feet of patients with diabetes,” Liu said.
Fiber ‘Wrap’ Preserves Tissue and Encourages Blood Vessels to Open
University of Texas at Dallas
Scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas have filed a patent disclosure on a medical device that looks like a blue elastic bandage and acts like a wonder-cloth that helps preserve transplant organs, improve circulation and heal wounds.
Chemistry Professor Kenneth Balkus and Ph.D. student Harvey Liu say Liu’s early work on self-healing smart films led to the new, blue bandage that releases a controlled, steady dose of nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide (NO) is known to open blood vessels and keep them relaxed and flexible—key factors in keeping transplant organs viable and offering hope to diabetic patients who suffer from low blood flow in their extremities, especially the feet.
The development earned Liu a finalist position in the Collegiate Inventors competition, where he competed against other science, mathematics, engineering and technology inventors from universities including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“This research – and working in the Balkus group at UT Dallas, for that matter – has been an exciting journey,” Liu said.
“We started with nothing but an idea, one that evolved into a tangible product that we could potentially use to help people address ailments ranging from diabetes to hair growth to the preservation of transplant organs,” Liu said. “I’ve found the journey so rewarding.”
Balkus said the bandage’s blue color comes from synthetic zeolite nanoparticles throughout the material.
“The composite papers were fabricated by electrospinning biodegradable polymer fibers that contain zeolites or diazeniumdiolates,” Balkus said. “Upon exposure to moisture, the polymer fibers degrade and the NO is released.”
Wound dressings have evolved dramatically from strips of cloth ripped by hand into antiseptic marvels of modern medicine. Liu said he expects clothing or material to be another way for the zeolite cloth to help people.
“We’re interested in evaluating how well textiles—socks—or wraps made from this material can promote blood flow in the feet of patients with diabetes,” Liu said.
“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
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