Health News

Transplant Care: The Gap Remains Wide
Organ transplant clinics have to report their success rates. The idea is to help patients find the best medical care and motivate clinics to improve their care. But public reporting does not seem to be helping.
Celebrating an Organ Donor Milestone
One major roadblock of getting organ transplants for patients is finding people who are willing to donate. Now, the donation and transplant community is celebrating a long-awaited turn in the right direction.
More Hormone, More Risk
People with chronic kidney disease are at risk of deadly heart problems. If their kidneys stop functioning entirely, they have to go on dialysis. How can doctors spot kidney patients at risk of these complications?
Three-Day Dialysis Isn't Enough
Most kidney failure patients get dialysis treatment three times a week, often taking off the weekend. These two-day breaks may not be such a good idea.
Kidney Failure? Keep Treating Your Lupus
Lupus is a disease that can harm many parts of the body, and even end up causing kidney failure. Researchers have found a way to improve the survival of these patients.
Detecting Dialysis Risk
Doctors need to know which kidney disease patients are at risk for complications. Can they take action before those problems arise? The trouble is figuring out who is at risk. A specific hormone may be the sign.
The Color of Dialysis
For some time, studies have suggested that African-Americans do better on dialysis than whites. Such findings have affected practices guiding who gets kidney transplants. Now, those practices may need to change.
Seeing Sudden Death on Dialysis
When a diabetes patient's kidneys fail, that patient has to be put on dialysis. These patients may be at risk of having their heart suddenly stop. Now, researchers have found a way to spot who is most at risk.
Staying Alive after a Kidney Transplant
Kidney disease patients can wait years before they get a transplant. Even when they get a new organ, their body might reject it. Now, there is a way to make patient's bodies more accepting of transplants.
Patients Receive Blood Vessels Made From Donor Cells
Three patients with end stage renal disease mark the first to successfully receive blood vessels engineered in a lab from human skin cells. Following additional testing, "off the shelf" blood vessels could be as readily available as medical gauze.