Living-donor liver transplant offers numerous advantages over deceased donor

A recent study has highlighted the advantages of living-donor liver transplant over deceased-donor.
According to the study, a living-donor liver transplant offers numerous advantages over deceased-donor transplant, including better 3 year survival rates for patients and lower costs.

The study, highlights living donation as a viable, if not preferable, option for more than 14,000 people currently on the waiting list, as well as many more who never qualify to be on the list under current allocation rules.

About 8,000 liver transplants are performed each year according to  the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and living-donor liver transplant comprises less than 5% of that total.
Additionally, about 25% of people on the waiting list die each year waiting for a transplant, and those who eventually receive a transplant often have a lengthy period on the waiting list, resulting in poorer health at the time of transplant.

The consequences for patients on the waiting list can mean the difference netween life and eath because the longer they're waiting, the sicker they become. Living-donor liver transplants, in tandem with deceased donor liver transplants, represents an opportunity to significantly decrease the risk of wait-list mortality, and gives us the ability to transplant a person sooner, said the lead author of the study.

The retrospective review of 245 adult living donor liver transplants and 592 deceased-donor liver transplants performed over the last 10 years compared survival rates and other outcomes such as recovery times, complications, costs and resource utilisation. The patients were followed for at least two years post-transplant.

Of those comparisons, 3-year patient survival outcomes were superior in living-donor liver transplant recipients - 86 % versus 80 %. Living-donor liver transplant recipients overall had about a 5% survival advantage over deceased donor recipients.

Patients who received a liver from a living donor had a hospital stay of 11 days as compared to 13 days for those who received a liver from a deceased donor, had less likelihood of intra-operative blood transfusion (53 % compared to 78%) and less likelihood of the need for post-transplant dialysis ( 1.6% versus 7.4 %). Hospital costs related to transplant also were 29.5 % lower for living donor recipients. For the living-liver donor, there were no mortalities observed, and the overall complication rate was 20 %.

Living-donor liver transplant should be considered the first and best option for most patients with liver disease, he said. It is not only an option for those on the waiting list but could perhaps offset the fact that not everyone who may benefit from transplant qualifies  to receive a deceased-donor transplant based on today's current rules of allocation.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                     https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Drug 'canagliflozin' lowers the risk of kidney failure in diabetes patients

In a landmark clinical trial, researchers have found that a drug called canagliflozin decreases the risk of kidney failure by third in the patients' suffering from Type 2 diabetes and  kidney disease.
The study involved 4,401 participants in 34 countries. 

"For the first time in 18 years, we have a therapy for patients with Type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease that decreases kidney failure," said  the senior author of the study.

The drug, canagliflozin, improves a nearly two-decades-old therapy, currently the only approved treatment to protect kidney function in people with Type 2 diabetes. In the trial, canagliflozin was also found to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events.

Canagliflozin increases the excretion of glucose through the kidneys. It has already been approved by the government to lower blood glucose in patients with Type 2 diabetes and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with Type 2 diabetes and existing heart disease.

"People with diabetes and kidney disease are at extremely high risk of kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and death. With this definitive trial result, we now have a very effective way to reduce this risk by using a pill once a day," said the lead author of the study.

Participants in the trial received the best care available for kidney disease under the current
guidelines, a type of therapy called the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, or RAAS, blockade. In addition, half were randomly selected to receive canagliflozin, while the other half were given a placebo.

The primary results of the study found that participants who took canagliflozin were 30 per cent less likely than the placebo group to develop kidney failure or die from either renal failure or  cardiovascular disease.

Their risk of  kidney failure or death from kidney failure was reduced by 34 per cent, and the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure or death due to cardiac causes decreased by 31 per cent.

People with diabetes can develop kidney disease because prolonged high blood sugar harms blood vessels in the kidney. In addition, diabetes often causes high blood pressure, which can stretch and weaken blood vessels in the organ.

For the past two decades, physicians have largely relied on RAAS blockade to prevent the deterioration of kidney function in diabetic patients. Although RAAS blockade lowers blood pressure and delays progression of kidney disease, patients undergoing this treatment remain at high risk for  renal failure and cardiovascular disease, as well as death from these conditions.

Given that the number of people with Type 2 diabetes worldwide is estimated to rise by 20 per cent to 510 million in 2030, "a drug like canagliflozin that improves both cardiovascular and renal outcomes has been eagerly sought by both patients with Type 2 diabetes and clinicians caring for them," said the researcher.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/    

                                                                                                                                                     FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/  

         

                   FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Anthocyanin: a Pigment Full of Health Benefits

Ever wondered why there are red, blue and even black variants of fruit and vegetables that are normally white or yellow? The answer lies, much like in humans and animals, in pigmentation.

This difference in color is not superficial, as dark-colored fruit and vegetables contain an essential component called anthocyanin, and it turns out that this component may benefit human health in a variety of ways.

 

Anthocyanin is a pigment, which typically makes fruit and vegetables darker, and its consumption has been linked to several major health benefits.

As a general rule, the darker the produce is, the richer in anthocyanin it will be, moving from red to a deep, almost black purple. Good sources of this pigment are eggplants, black raspberries (the similar-looking blackberries are somewhat less rich in anthocyanin), blackcurrant, elderberries, blue (Hopi) corn and blueberries.

Blue vegetables vs. diabetes and inflammation

But why are these pigments good for us, anyway?

A series of studies following over 200,000 women and men over a period exceeding 20 years in total demonstrated that a diet rich in anthocyanin, which translates to about two servings of blueberries a week, was strongly associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes. Participants that had an anthocyanin-rich diet were 23% less likely to develop insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when our bodies develop a tolerance to insulin, the hormone in charge of absorbing carbohydrates into the body, and it is associated with overindulging in sugary and carb-rich foods. What anthocyanin appears to do is promote insulin sensitivity in the body, thus helping prevent the onset of diabetes.

Moreover, dietary anthocyanins have been consistently shown to be effective in reducing the inflammation associated with obesity and the chronic conditions that come with it.

The pigment that staves off cancer

Anthocyanins have also been demonstrated  to be potent antioxidants, a word that has become increasingly prominent in health circles. But what is an antioxidant, anyway, and what is it good for?

In short: oxidation in the body has the potential to create flawed oxygen atoms (called free radicals) with missing electrons. The atom seeks to rectify this by “stealing” electrons from the environment, i.e. our body. This causes cellular mutation in different organs and tissues, and was even shown to alter DNA.

This, in turn, can lead to a host of different degenerative diseases that are often associated with aging, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and others. Antioxidants neutralize these free radicals by donating the much-needed electrons. In fact, eating just half a cup of blueberries in every meal has been shown to increase the body’s ability to neutralize these harmful free radicals and protect the integrity of our DNA substantially.

And that’s just anthocyanins! Obviously, all of these berries and vegetables are also rich in nutrients that can help relieve and prevent a host of health issues. 

 

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com