THURSDAY, Feb. 9, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Doctors have discovered a way to extend the short shelf life of donor hearts, which could hopefully make more of the organs available to desperate recipients. Valproic acid (Depakote), which is approved to treat seizures, boosts production of an enzyme that increases theContinue Reading
THURSDAY, Feb. 9, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Massachusetts legislators have proposed a bill that would allow prison inmates to donate their organs or bone marrow as a way to trim the length of their sentence. While some experts wonder about the ethics of such a law and whether it wouldContinue Reading
THURSDAY, Jan. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Do your liver a favor and steer clear of fast food, new research urges. People with obesity or diabetes who consumed 20% or more of their daily calories from fast food had severely elevated levels of fat in their liver compared to thoseContinue Reading
MONDAY, Jan. 9, 2023 (HealthDay News) — A new way of allocating donor lungs that eliminates geographical restrictions could save more lives, new research suggests. In early 2023, the current U.S. system, which looks for compatible candidates within a fixed radius, will be replaced by the Composite Allocation Score. TheContinue Reading
FRIDAY, Jan. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Patients with an incurable, genetic liver disease have new hope after an animal study showed that a single drug could reverse its effects. Alagille syndrome is caused by a mutation that prevents the formation and regeneration of bile ducts in the liver. AboutContinue Reading
THURSDAY, Dec. 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Quitting alcohol can help reduce complications of liver cirrhosis, even in patients who have advanced disease. It can also help them live longer, new research shows. “Our results clearly show that all patients with alcohol-related liver cirrhosis who maintain sustained abstinence from alcoholContinue Reading
MONDAY, Dec. 12, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Liver disease can affect heart health and that includes even early forms of the disease, a new study reveals. While it had previously been known that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was associated with cardiovascular death, the relationship was poorly understood, said researcher Dr.Continue Reading
People who have had COVID-19 may face an increased risk of liver stiffness, researchers say.Continue Reading
THURSDAY, Dec. 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) — COVID-19 may harm the liver, a small study suggests. The virus appears to increase liver stiffness, a sign of potential long-term injury, but it’s too early to tell if that portends serious liver disease, the researchers said. “COVID infections have been observed toContinue Reading
TUESDAY, Nov. 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Once a year, giant motorcycle rallies ride into places like Daytona Beach, Fla., and Sturgis, S.D., bringing hundreds of thousands of people, an economic boost — and a wave of crash-related deaths. That means more organs available for donation and the need toContinue Reading
MONDAY, Nov. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The difference between age 69 and age 70 is, of course, just a single year. Yet, organizations that receive organs for transplant patients are less likely to choose one from the older donor, a new study finds. American organ procurement organizations and transplantContinue Reading
MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Less than a year after the first-ever transplant of a pig heart into a human patient, doctors are reporting that the heart showed unexpected changes in its electrical system before the recipient ultimately died. The changes are not believed to have contributed toContinue Reading
MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A person with heart failure in dire need of a new heart may have faced delays in getting one during the pandemic when potential donors tested positive for COVID-19. As some centers began accepting these hearts for transplant anyway, data from a newContinue Reading
TUESDAY, Oct. 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Some human livers are tougher than others, lasting more than 100 cumulative years between the organ’s original host and a transplant recipient, a new study discovers. Understanding what makes these livers so resilient could help improve the donor pool by paving the wayContinue Reading