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You were lucky enough to receive a kidney years ago, but now it is failing. Is it better to opt for another transplant or go on dialysis?

New research suggests a second transplant may be the better option.

Kidney transplants from deceased donors function for a median ...

After nearly dying from a severe case of COVID-19, a young male patient received a successful heart transplant even as he was recuperating from his infection while on a ventilator, a new case study reports.

The transplant was performed on the 31-year-old patient at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May.

It's one of the first cases of its kind in the wor...

If you're a patient with a weakened immune system, roll up your sleeves to stay safe over the holidays and winter months.

"Immunocompromised patients absolutely should get a flu shot as well as an additional COVID-19 vaccine dose," said Dr. Marwa Kaisey, a neuroimmunologist and assistant professor of neurology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

"Otherwise, they are more likely to have ...

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who take medications that suppress the immune system don't have a higher risk of severe COVID-19 than those with normal immune systems, a new study finds.

Early in the pandemic, it was feared that people taking immunosuppressive drugs were at increased risk of severe COVID-19 due to their weakened immune systems. The drugs are used to treat cancer and autoim...

More older folks are winding up on liver transplant waiting lists than ever before, as obesity and alcoholism supersede hepatitis C as the main cause of liver failure in the United States.

The percentage of liver transplant candidates aged 65 or older rose from 9% in the early 2000s to 23% by 2020, researchers found. Most seniors' liver failure is due to fatty liver disease, in which exce...

Transplant patients and certain other folks may need four shots of COVID-19 vaccine for optimal protection, new research suggests.

People with weakened immune systems who've received both doses of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines aren't adequately protected against severe illness. They should be given a third shot plus a booster, according to the study.

"These findings indicate that while...

Anti-vaxxers felt their suspicions confirmed when former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell died from COVID-19 complications in mid-October despite being fully vaccinated.

But Powell, 84, was being treated for blood cancer at the time of his death, and a new study reports that the COVID vaccines are producing little to no protection for some cancer patients.

Nearly 3 out of 5 bloo...

A kidney grown in a genetically altered pig functioned normally after being attached to a human patient during a groundbreaking procedure performed by U.S. doctors.

If the technique proves generally successful it could revolutionize organ transplant, greatly expanding the pool of available organs.

The surgery was conducted in September at NYU Langone Health in New York ...

Men and women have similar reasons for becoming -- or not becoming -- an organ donor, according to a new study. Yet women appear more willing to donate their organs to family members or strangers.

The results, published Sept. 24 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggest improving communication among family members about organ donation wishes could help increase ...

People hospitalized for COVID-19, and even some with milder cases, may suffer lasting damage to their kidneys, new research finds.

The study of more than 1.7 million patients in the U.S. Veterans Affairs system adds to concerns about the lingering effects of COVID -- particularly among people sick enough to need hospitalization.

Researchers found that months after their initial infe...

Here's some hopeful news for those who have kidney transplants: Long-term survival rates have improved over the past three decades, a review shows.

"There has been a gratifying improvement in kidney transplant survival, both for patients and the kidney graft itself, from 1996 to the current era," said review author Dr. Sundaram Hariharan, a senior transplant nephrologist at the University...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a third "booster" shot of coronavirus vaccines for people with weakened immune systems, as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to surge across the country.

Expanding the emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should help protect those patients who are considered most vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. The auth...

Black American liver transplant recipients have a lower survival rate than Hispanic or white patients, and a new study suggests that alcohol-related liver disease and insurance coverage are key reasons.

"Our findings are a huge wake-up call that physicians and other health care professionals need to do better in delivering equitable care," said study leader Dr. Brian Lee, a liver transpla...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans on Thursday to authorize a third "booster" shot of coronavirus vaccine for people with weakened immune systems, as the highly contagious Delta variant surges across the country.

Expanding the emergency use of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should help protect those patients who are considered most vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and most likel...

A third dose of a two-shot COVID vaccine significantly boosts transplant patients' protection against SARS-CoV-2, according to a new study.

"We knew from previous studies that two doses were not enough to produce a good immune response against COVID-19 in transplant patients," said study co-senior author Dr. Deepali Kumar. She is director of transplant infectious diseases at the Universit...

In a finding that could mean more patients desperate for a heart transplant get a new lease on life, two new studies show that hearts from donors who abused drugs can be safely donated.

In the past two decades, the U.S. opioid crisis has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans -- often young, otherwise healthy people. One result is that a rising percentage of potential donor...

Giving a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines to adults with weakened immune systems -- the immunocompromised -- will be up for discussion during a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel meeting next week.

At the meeting scheduled for July 22, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will focus on the 2% to 4% of U.S. adults with weakened immune systems. These i...

COVID-19 vaccinations may not offer as much protection to people with compromised immune systems, but just how much appears to be driven by the type of underlying condition, new research suggests.

"People with conditions that compromise their immune systems exhibit a wide spectrum of antibody responses to COVID-19 vaccination, ranging from only 1 in 5 lung transplant patients having an a...

Early research suggests that CRISPR gene-editing technology may some day lead to dramatic relief for patients struggling with amyloidosis, a rare but serious disease that can trigger organ failure.

"There are many different types of amyloidosis," explained study author Dr. Julian Gillmore, a researcher in medicine with the Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins at University Coll...

Black Americans with cirrhosis -- late-stage liver disease -- are much less likely to receive a liver transplant and more likely to die than white patients, new research reveals.

For the study, researchers at Northwestern Medicine analyzed data from all cirrhosis patients, regardless of transplant eligibility, at seven large liver centers in Chicago.

Compared to white patients...

In the world of chronic kidney disease, the dilemma is not uncommon: A relatively young patient with kidney trouble may need a transplant down the road, and an older family member is more than ready to step up. But the need for a kidney transplant, while predictable, is not immediate.

So the older donor doesn't act. Given that donor supply has never met demand, the loss of a golden opport...

Many Americans who stand to benefit most from a kidney transplant may be missing a key window of opportunity, a new study finds.

The study focused on kidney failure patients who would be expected to live many years after receiving a kidney transplant. That generally includes relatively younger people without other major medical conditions.

In 2014, the U.S. kidney allocation system ...

There's a severe blood shortage in the United States due to a recent surge in trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries, the American Red Cross says.

The Red Cross is appealing to Americans to roll up their sleeves and donate blood immediately.

"Our teams are working around the clock to meet the extraordinary blood needs of hospitals and patients -- distributing about 7...