Johns Hopkins approved for HIV-positive organ transplants

Johns Hopkins Medicine has recently received approval to perform organ transplants between HIV-positive donors and recipients.

The hospital announced in a news release Monday that it plans to perform the nation's first kidney transplant between an HIV-positive donor and recipient and the first such liver transplant in the world. These transplants could take place as soon as a suitable organ becomes available and a recipient is identified and prepared.

Dr. Dorry Segev is associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Segev estimates that more than 1,000 people could be saved each year with the donations of organs from 500 to 600 HIV-positive people. The transplants are now possible because of the 2013 HOPE Act, which allowed HIV-positive individuals to donate organs.