Clinical & Pharmaceutical

03/16/2010

• Is it Right to Get Transplant Organs from ER?

  Should dying emergency room patients be sources for kidney (and other) transplants so others can live?Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital have received a $321,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to help answer this question. “Obtaining organs from emergency room patients has long been considered off-limits in the United ...

   
• UC Davis Completes 4 Transplant in 2 Days Using Paired Exchange

  SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Using the revolutionary new approach to kidney transplants known as paired exchange, four patients have received live-donor kidney transplants through the UC Davis Kidney Transplant Program. When a live donor is unable to donate to an intended recipient due to blood or tissue type incompatibility, they have an option called paired kidney exchange. Paired exchange matches incompatible donor-recipient pairs ...

   
• Vitamin D Helps Reduce Heart Disease Risk

  MURRAY, UTAH—Preventing and treating heart disease in some patients could be as simple as supplementing their diet with extra vitamin D, according to two new studies at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah.Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute last fall demonstrated the link between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk for coronary artery disease. These ...

   
• Lipitor Reduces Risk Of Cardiovascular Events in CKD Patients

  ATLANTA—Lipitor 80 mg was associated with a significantly reduced risk of major cardiovascular events compared with Lipitor 10 mg among patients with both coronary heart disease (CHD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) who were obese or had metabolic syndrome. These data, from two sub-analyses of the Treating to New Targets (TNT) trial that were designed and completed following the completion ...

   
• New Dialysis Catheter Reduces Thrombus Accumulation

  MAPLE GROVE, Minn.—r4 Vascular has released its new Duraspan Biomimetic Coated long-term hemodialysis catheter, which has a coating on the catheter surface that mimics the glycocalyx layer found on natural endothelial tissue surfaces in vessel walls.  Laboratory tests of the Duraspan catheter have demonstrated an 87 percent reduction in platelet adhesion and thrombus accumulation compared to uncoated catheters, according to ...