News by Subject Medicine & Health

Findings from continuous glucose monitoring evaluations in islet transplant recipients who have been insulin independent for an average of 10 years show near normal glycemic profiles and time-in-range metrics, demonstrating that islet transplantation can be a successful long-term therapy for select patients with type 1 diabetes.

Preliminary results from a $5.2 million clinical trial led by University of Cincinnati researchers show that the immunosuppressive drug belatacept can help safely and effectively treat kidney transplant patients without the negative long-term side effects of traditional immunosuppressive regimens, the study's leaders announced this week at the annual American Transplant Congress gathering.

In the New England Journal of Medicine, a Brigham team presents the longer-term outcomes for six face transplant recipients who had been followed for up to 5 years after surgery, representing the largest cohort of patients in the US.

Sunnie Thompson's study of BK polyomavirus replication may lead to less failure of kidneys following organ transplant. The virus is silently harbored in most humans; when transplant recipients receive drugs to suppress their immune system to prevent graft rejection, the virus can reactivate and damage the kidney. Thompson's research points to a new way to reduce BK polyomavirus levels in transplant patients without reducing immunosuppressing drugs.

Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), or the transfer of stool from a healthy donor to a patient, has been found effective in reversing severe, recurring diarrheal infections from Clostridiodes difficile in adults by restoring a normal microbiome. Now, the largest study to date of FMT in children finds the procedure to be safe and effective in eradicating an infection that is on the rise among children, even those without known risk factors.

Up to 1 in 7 kidney donors and recipients may have a type of genetic incompatibility that leads to organ rejection, researchers at Columbia University have found.