http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. If you were born during 1945-1965, talk to your doctor about getting tested for hepatitis C. The word "hepatitis" means swelling of the liver. Hepatitis is most often caused by a virus. In the United States, the most common type of viral hepatitis is hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is primarily spread through contact with blood from an infected person. More than 15,000 Americans, most of them baby boomers, die each year from hepatitis C-related illness. Deaths related to hepatitis C have been on the rise and are expected to increase. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hepatitis-screening-baby-boomers.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:31:39 EST news286446690 A person in the northeastern state of Maryland who recently died of rabies was found to have contracted the illness from an organ transplant done over a year ago, US health officials said Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-transplant-patient-dies-rabies.html Other Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:00:01 EST news282569840 UPMC surgeons have performed a "breathing lung" transplant using a portable machine that provides a constant supply of blood and nutrients to the donor organs, which doctors say has the potential to keep them healthier and viable for longer than ever before. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-lung-transplant-east-coast-ocs.html Other Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:30:02 EST news282471528 A woman whose doctors believe is the first known case of a five-organ transplant patient to deliver a baby said Wednesday her joy is hard to describe. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-five-organ-transplant-patient-mother.html Other Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:15:51 EST news282413746 In what doctors Tuesday said was a medical first, an Argentine woman with a transplanted heart gave birth to a baby girl following an in vitro fertilization. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-argentine-woman-birth-heart-transplant.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:29:14 EST news278699344 Women taking the immunosuppressant tacrolimus can rest assured that breast feeding will not elevate their babies' exposure to the drug, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). The findings are good news for young women who have received an organ transplant in the past or who are taking the drug for other reasons. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-breast-mothers-immunosuppressant-drug.html Medications Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:00:01 EST news278265308 Surgeons in Zurich have carried out a complex, multi-organ transplant, hospital officials said Thursday, claiming the lessons learned would benefit patients with tumours that attack multiple organs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-swiss-surgeons-complex-multiple-transplant.html Surgery Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:28:13 EST news275228885 Waiting to treat the commonest viral infections in transplant recipients until they reach a certain threshold is better than prophylactically treating all recipients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-reveals-optimal-treatment-common-infection.html Other Thu, 23 Aug 2012 17:10:01 EST news264953486 (HealthDay) -- For organ transplant recipients, patients factors, including sex and skin type, and receipt of advice from health care providers, are both associated with sun protective behaviors, according to a study published online Aug. 9 in the British Journal of Dermatology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-factors-tied-photoprotection-idd-recipients.html Surgery Tue, 21 Aug 2012 15:40:01 EST news264774264 (HealthDay) -- The first DNA test to help doctors treat a common viral infection in people who have had a solid organ transplant has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-common-infection-transplant-patients.html Medications Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:00:01 EST news260726189 A fatty membrane in the belly called the omentum has until recently been considered somewhat like the appendix -- it didn't seem to serve much purpose. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-belly-fat-isnt-bad-fatty.html Immunology Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:00:32 EST news258217448 Up until now the causes of the development of chronic lymphatic leukaemia, the most common form of cancer of the blood in Europe, have been unknown. At present a cure is not possible. A research group at the MedUni Vienna led by Christoph Steininger of the University Department of Internal Medicine I has now however discovered a lead on the origin of this disease. Says Steiniger: "This could influence the therapy approach taken in treating chronic lymphatic leukaemia." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-chronic-lymphatic-leukaemia.html Cancer Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:09:19 EST news253350552 In an organ transplant the recipient protects himself with an immune reaction against the alien organ. This reaction is counteracted long-term with the use of immunosuppressants. In future this medication might no longer be necessary. If bone marrow belonging to the donor is also transplanted, no immune reaction occurs. However, this is still associated with undesirable side effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-bone-marrow-transplantation-donated.html Surgery Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:50:02 EST news252660692 (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday declined to reconsider a ruling that allows bone marrow donors to be paid for their donations like blood donors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-court-wont-reconsider-bone-marrow.html Other Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:14:51 EST news252123269 (HealthDay) -- A novel approach using a bioengineered mobilized cellular product enriched with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and tolerogenic graft facilitating cells (FCs) in combination with nonmyeloablative conditioning is safe and practical for inducing immune tolerance after transplantation, according to a study published in the March 7 issue of Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-stem-cells-conditioning-immune-tolerance.html Immunology Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:20:01 EST news250442462 New ongoing research published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine suggests organ transplant recipients may not require anti-rejection medication in the future thanks to the power of stem cells, which may prove to be able to be manipulated in mismatched kidney donor and recipient pairs to allow for successful transplantation without immunosuppressive drugs. Northwestern Medicine® and University of Louisville researchers are partnering on a clinical trial to study the use of donor stem cell infusions that have been specially engineered to "trick" the recipients' immune system into thinking the donated organ is part of the patient's natural self, thus gradually eliminating or reducing the need for anti-rejection medication. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-transplant-method-kidney-recipients-life.html Medical research Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:00:02 EST news250347854 Cochlear implants may be a safe, effective option for some organ transplant patients who've lost their hearing as an unfortunate consequence of their transplant-related drug regime, researchers report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-cochlear-implants-safe-effective-transplant.html Other Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:57:52 EST news248101048 Mayo Clinic in Florida is now offering kidney and pancreas transplants to HIV positive patients with advanced kidney disease and diabetes. Evidence is now solid that HIV-positive patients have the same favorable outcome in terms of patient and allograft survival as non-HIV positive organ transplant recipients, says Mary Prendergast, M.D., a kidney specialist whose focus is the care of patients who receive kidney and pancreas transplants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-mayo-clinic-kidney-pancreas-transplant.html Other Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:02:52 EST news242398957 Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects nine out of ten people worldwide at some point during their lifetimes. Infections in early childhood often cause no disease symptoms, but people infected during adolescence or young adulthood may develop infectious mononucleosis, a disease characterized by swollen lymph nodes, fever and severe fatigue. EBV also is associated with several kinds of cancer, including Hodgkin lymphoma and stomach and nasal cancers. Organ transplant recipients and people infected with HIV (who become infected with or who already are infected with EBV) also may develop EBV-associated cancers. There is no vaccine to prevent EBV infection and no way for doctors to predict whether an EBV-infected person will develop virus-associated cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-nih-scientists-outline-epstein-barr-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:43:22 EST news239467388 Patients who have received a solid organ transplant, such as kidney, liver, heart or lung, have an overall cancer risk that is double that of the general population, with an increased risk for many different types of malignancies, according to a study in the November 2 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-recipients-transplants-broad-range-cancers.html Cancer Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:26:55 EST news239383608 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers are a step closer towards creating a new class of medicines and vaccines to combat drug-resistant and deadly strains of fungal infections, following a new study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-killer-hospital-bug-achilles-heel.html Medical research Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:14:59 EST news234461648 A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals an association between the human papillomavirus (betaPV) infection and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in organ transplant recipients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-hpv-infection-highly-prevalent-transplant.html Other Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:38:18 EST news229685882 Researchers at King's College London have used cells found naturally in the body, to re-educate the immune system to prevent rejection of an organ transplant while remaining capable of fighting infections and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-re-educating-immune-cell-therapy.html Medical research Wed, 18 May 2011 14:00:05 EST news224942288 Transplant surgeons at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recently performed their first simultaneous, dual living donor organ transplant on a single recipient. The recipient, a 60-year-old man from the Hazleton area, received a kidney from his wife and a section of his youngest son’s liver in a complicated surgery that lasted nearly 19 hours. Simultaneous transplants of multiple organs from multiple living donors to a single recipient are exceedingly rare in the United States; since 1987, the procedure has been performed with a liver and kidney coming from different living donors just 10 other times. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-medical-center-rare-donor-transplant.html Other Tue, 03 May 2011 09:10:04 EST news223629795