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Transplantation Topic Homepage
Transplantation Overview
Transplantation is the transfer of living cells, tissues or organs from one person to another, or from one part of the body to another.1 The most common type of transplantation is a blood transfusion, which is used to treat millions of people each year. Some organs or tissues, such as kidney, heart and cornea can also be transplanted.1
In 2007, more than 275,000 Europeans were living with an organ transplant...
... and thousands more were waiting for a transplant.2 The rise of chronic diseases and an aging population has resulted in increased indications for transplantation.2 Indeed, organ transplantation is often the only option for conditions leading to irreversible loss of function of vital organs.2
Significant progress has been made in the context of immunosuppressive therapies, enabling significant reductions in the occurrence of acute rejection of transplanted tissues and organs, but graft survival in the longer term has been limited.2 Long-term survival is related to complex and intricate mechanisms including; chronic rejection, toxicity of immunosuppressive drugs, cardiovascular factors, dyslipidemia and/or diabetes.2
Transplantation research must become more translational and multidisciplinary, and have a better structured program of development in order to allow articulation between basic, clinical and therapeutic research. A better understanding of the mechanisms leading to immune tolerance, as well as those involved in the development of lesions of chronic rejection, will allow the development of new approaches to therapeutic organ transplantation and rejection.2
1. Beers M.H. et al. The Merck manual of medical information. Merck research laboratories. Second home edition. 2003, 1075-1083.
2. Inserm. Transplantation d'organes. Quelles voies de recherche ? Synthèse et recommandations. March 2009.
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Drug News
STRATO study of LCP-Tacro (Veloxis Pharmaceuticals) shows benefits for Kidney Transplant patients
22-05-2013Data from the STRATO study demonstrates the potential for LCP-Tacro (tacrolimus once daily), from Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, to improve tacrolimus-induced tremors in stable Kidney Transplant...
FDA approves Zortress (Novartis)for prophylaxis of organ rejection in Liver Transplant patients
17-02-2013
Novartis announced that the FDA has, on 15 February 2013 ,approved Zortress (everolimus) for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in adult patients receiving a Liver Transplant.
Zortress is...
Phase III study of LCP-Tacro (Veloxis Pharmaceuticals) shows drug is non-inferior to current treatment in Kidney Transplant patients
05-01-2013New data on the 3001 Study of LCP-Tacro, from Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, in stable Kidney Transplant patients has been published. This randomized, controlled, multicenter Phase III trial demonstrated...
Transplantation Drug Data - A-Z
Possible searches include drugs or medicines (by brand, generic ingredient or drug class), diseases, conditions and more.
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Recent Drug Updates
Cellcept 500mg Tablets
13-12-2012CellCept is indicated in combination with ciclosporin and corticosteroids for the prophylaxis of acute transplant rejection in patients receiving allogeneic renal, cardiac or hepatic transplants....
Cellcept 500mg Powder
13-12-2012CellCept 500 mg powder for concentrate for solution for infusion is indicated in combination with ciclosporin and corticosteroids for the prophylaxis of acute transplant rejection in patients...
Cellcept 250mg Capsules
13-12-2012CellCept is indicated in combination with ciclosporin and corticosteroids for the prophylaxis of acute transplant rejection in patients receiving allogeneic renal, cardiac or hepatic transplants....
Clinical Guidelines
Diagnosis and management of chronic graft-versus-host disease
Apr 2012A joint working group established by the Haemato-oncology subgroup of the British Committee for..
... Standards in Haematology (BCSH) and the British Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation (BSBMT) has reviewed the available literature and made recommendations for the diagnosis and management of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). This guideline includes recommendations for the diagnosis and staging of chronic GvHD as well as primary treatment and options for patients with steroid-refractory disease. The goal of treatment should be the effective control of GvHD while minimizing the risk of toxicity and relapse.
Diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease
Apr 2012A joint working group established by the Haemato-oncology subgroup of the British Committee for..
... Standards in Haematology (BCSH) and the British Society for Bone Marrow Transplantation (BSBMT) has reviewed the available literature and made recommendations for the diagnosis and management of acute graft-versus-host disease. This guideline includes recommendations for the diagnosis and grading of acute graft-versus-host disease as well as primary treatment and options for patients with steroid-refractory disease. The goal of treatment should be effective control of graft-versus-host disease while minimizing risk of toxicity and relapse.
Online CME
Managing Organ Transplantation Patients in Primary Care
Apr 2013
... management of solid organ transplant patients in primary care.
Prevention and Treatment of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Solid Organ Transplantation
Apr 2013
... to guide clinical decisions and determine the appropriate prophylactic and preemptive therapies to use for cytomegalovirus (CMV) prevention.
Clinical Trials
Effect of 3g Versus 2 g MMF in Combination With Tacrolimus on Progression of Renal Allograft Interstitial Fibrosis
18-05-2013Development of chronic changes (scarring) in transplanted kidney tissue is a major cause of long-term kidney function deterioration and ultimately graft loss. It results from both immunologic and non-immunologic mechanisms. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is immunosuppressive drug used for prevention of rejection after..
... kidney transplant, usually in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor (tacrolimus or cyclosporine), with or without corticosteroids. Besides immunosuppression, MMF may also have direct antifibrotic properties. Tacrolimus has potent immunosuppressive effects and is the cornerstone of contemporary posttransplant immunosuppressive therapy in kidney recipients. However, it is also nephrotoxic. The hypothesis of the present study is that in the setting of similar net immunosuppression, higher dose of MMF (3 g daily) will result in slower progression of kidney fibrosis during first year posttransplant as compared to MMF 2 g daily. To test this hypothesis, the present study will randomly assign low immunological risk kidney transplant recipients to either 2g or 3 g MMF daily, in combination with tacrolimus, with, or without maintenance steroids. All patients will have kidney biopsy at implantation and at 12 months after transplantation. Main outcome will be 1-year change in chronic kidney histology (interstitial fibrosis) assessed by protocol biopsy.
Adherence Enhancement for Renal Transplant Patients
17-05-2013Despite significant advances in the care of kidney transplant recipients, long term graft survival after renal transplantation remains suboptimal. Medication nonadherence and clinical inertia are key contributors to graft loss. The purpose of the proposed RCT feasibility study is to evaluate impact of a bundled..
... wireless real time medication reminder system and blood pressure monitoring system in combination with a cognitive behavioral adherence skills enhancement program upon medication adherence, therapeutic drug concentration, and blood pressure, in nonadherent kidney transplant recipients with hypertension. We propose to recruit 60 kidney transplant recipients in phase 1 with 20 non-adherent continuing to phase 2 for a 5-month feasibility RCT.
Medical Videos
Medical Journal Abstracts
Increased incidence of herpes zoster in the setting of cytomegalovirus preemptive therapy after kidney transplantation
Transplant Infectious Disease
May 2013
Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) is a common infectious disease after kidney transplantation (KT). The incidence of HZ may increase during cytomegalovirus (CMV) preemptive therapy. We therefore evaluated the incidence, risk factors, and clinical outcomes of HZ after KT, according to the type of CMV prophylaxis used...
The mean fluorescence intensities of anti-HLA antibodies detected using micro-bead flow cytometry predict the risk of platelet transfusion refractoriness
British Journal of Haematology
May 2013
There are no accepted methods to predict the development of platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR) due to human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-alloimmunization. Hence, matched platelets are usually given only to patients demonstrating PTR, necessarily resulting in some ineffective random donor platelets (RDPLT)..
Social Media
Do you agree with presumed consent for organ donation?
on doc2doc... are wasted, and (intriguingly) 18,000 are transplanted, yet 100,000 people are awaiting transplant (New Scentist, Editorial 20/4/13). ...
Do you agree with presumed consent for organ donation?
on doc2doc... it is very uncommon in my experience (based on discussions with transplant surgeons) for Medical staff to disregard the families objections ...
Do you agree with presumed consent for organ donation?
on doc2doc... it is very uncommon in my experience (based on discussions with transplant surgeons) for Medical staff to disregard the families objections.Kirked
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