Tag Archives: kidney

Magnetic Gel: A More Effective Solution for Kidney Stone Removal

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Kidney stones are a common and painful condition

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Devices utilizing magnets may offer a more efficient method for removing kidney stones compared to traditional techniques, potentially reducing the necessity for repeated surgeries.

Kidney stones form when minerals in urine crystallize. If they become lodged in the kidneys or move into the ureters, the tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder, they can lead to significant discomfort.

Current treatments often involve breaking the stones into smaller pieces through methods such as guiding a thin tube with a laser through the bladder into the ureters and kidneys, or applying ultrasound waves externally.

Surgeons typically extract these fragments individually using a wire basket that passes in and out of the urethra. This repetitive retrieval process can result in tissue damage. About 40% of the time, residual debris is left behind, particularly if small particles evade the basket, increasing the risk of additional stones.

Seeking alternatives, Joseph Liao and his team at Stanford University in California previously engineered a magnetic gel designed to coat stone debris and a magnetic wire to capture it in lab settings.

Recently, they implemented this method in a study involving four pigs. They introduced various fragments of human kidney stones into the pigs’ kidneys before injecting the magnetic gel. By utilizing a magnetic wire inserted through the urethra, the researchers managed to extract multiple stone fragments simultaneously, unlike the traditional wire basket method that retrieves them one at a time. “It’s like using a stick to fish out a snot filled with stone debris, allowing for the removal of significant amounts of stone fragments at once,” explained Liao.

This technique appears to cause less tissue damage than conventional methods since fewer invasive procedures are necessary. Unlike wire baskets, the magnetic device effectively captures debris of varying sizes, permitting thorough removal of all remnants from the kidney, as noted by Rio. This not only decreases the chance of new stones forming but also curtails the need for additional surgeries.

“This is a very promising method,” states Veronica Magdanz from the University of Waterloo, Canada, who was not involved in the research. “Any advancement that enhances the success rate of stone collection and facilitates the removal of more pieces at once is advantageous.”

None of the pigs exhibited any adverse reactions to the gel. “This is excellent news. It is non-toxic and harmless,” Magdanz remarked. After refining the technique through further pig studies, Rio and his team aim to begin human trials within approximately a year.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Gene Editing Offers Hope for “Irreversible” Kidney Disease Damage Treatment

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Kidney disease can result in hypertension and infections

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Recent animal research suggests that damage caused by the most prevalent hereditary kidney disease may not be as irreversible as previously thought. Researchers are using CRISPR gene editing to potentially reverse certain mutations responsible for the condition.

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) gradually alters kidney function, leading to debilitating effects. “It was generally believed that correcting the mutations would not change the outcome,” says Michael Kaminski from Berlin University of Medicine.

PKD results in the formation of fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys and liver, leading to organ failure and necessitating dialysis or transplants. Besides organ failure, damage and swelling can lead to other severe issues, including high blood pressure and infections.

The disease typically affects adults, with approximately 12 million individuals globally estimated to be affected. Symptoms may not manifest until the cysts reach significant size in one’s 30s, by which point there may already be extensive damage to the kidneys and liver.

Kaminski’s team has utilized a CRISPR method known as base editing to correct mutations in the PKD1 gene in mice models.

This technique successfully corrected mutations primarily in the liver, resulting in a reduction in both the size and number of cysts post-treatment. Kaminski noted potential improvements in the kidneys as well.

Specifically, Xiaogang Li’s team at Mayo Clinic conducted a similar study using more precise methods targeting the kidneys, indicating a reduction in cyst size and quantity, according to Li.

Both teams employed viral vectors to deliver gene-editing tools, which poses challenges with repeated doses due to immune responses might hinder treatment. “This is a legitimate concern,” Li notes. “However, we’ve observed limited immune responses in our animal models so far.”

Utilizing lipid nanoparticles instead of viral vectors, as seen in mRNA vaccines, could mitigate immune-related issues, but Kaminski warns that these particles may struggle to penetrate deeply into the kidneys through the bloodstream. “I believe that the delivery method using [lipid nanoparticles] might become more feasible through urinary pathways,” he says.

Another limitation is that base editing primarily addresses single-character mutations, rendering it ineffective for individuals with longer mutation sequences. However, Li reports successful outcomes using a technique known as Prime editing.

These findings are poised to be published shortly in scientific journals, with plans for human trials to follow. “After our publication, I aim to organize a small clinical trial,” he states.

The broader implications of this research suggest that if PKD can indeed be reversed, it could ignite more research into this potential therapeutic avenue. Currently, the only approved treatment is tolvaptan, which only slightly slows disease progression and requires significant fluid intake.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Can a surgeon successfully implant a kidney frozen for 10 days?

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On the last day of March, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital began surgery that they hoped would lead to lasting changes in the way the kidneys are implanted in people.

The patient that morning was not a human. It was a pig and was anesthetized on the table. The pig had one kidney missing and needed an implant.

Kidneys usually need to be transplanted within 24-36 hours, but the kidneys that enter the pig were removed 10 days before and frozen earlier that morning.

No one ever transplanted frozen organs into large animals. There were a lot of things that didn’t work out.

“I think there’s about a 50% chance that it will work,” said Kolkout Wygun, a surgical professor and team leader, before the surgery. Dr. Uygun is on the Scientific Advisory Committee of Sylvatica Biotech Inc., a company that develops freezing methods for organ maintenance.

But the promise from the organs of freezing and storage is fantastic.

There is a severe and continuous shortage of kidneys for transplants – That’s all 92,000 People are on the waiting list. One reason is that the 24-36 hour window is very short, so limit the number of recipients that are good matches.

How good is it to have a bank of stored frozen organs, as organ transplants can be like an elective surgery?

At least, it was a decades-long dream of a transplant surgeon.

However, the medical researchers’ attempts to freeze organs were thwarted at every turn. In many cases, ice crystals formed organs and destroyed them. The material was also intended to stop the crystals from forming, the anti-freeze agent was toxic and killed cells. Or the frozen organs became very brittle and cracked.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Alabama woman undergoes surgery to remove rejected porcine kidney

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Health officials at Nyu Langone said on Friday that the surgeon had removed genetically modified pig kidneys from an Alabama woman after experiencing acute organ rejection.

Towana Rooney, 53, lived with her kidneys for 130 days. This tolerate organs from genetically modified animals for longer than anyone else. She has resumed dialysis, hospital officials said.

Rooney’s surgeon and director of the NYU Langon Transplantation Institute, Dr. Robert Montgomery, said so-called explantation is not a setback in the field of xenografting.

“This was the longest of these organs,” he said in an interview, adding that Rooney had other medical conditions that could have complicated her prognosis.

“This all takes time,” he said. “This game is won by progressive improvements, singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fence and trying to score a home run.”

Rooney’s further treatment could have saved the organ, but she and her medical team opposed it, Dr. Montgomery said.

“No. 1 is safe. I had to be sure she was fine,” he said.

Another patient, Tim Andrews of Concord, New Hampshire, has been living with the kidneys of a genetically modified pig since January 25th, according to a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been hospitalized twice for a biopsy.

Just as two patients fed genetically modified pig hearts, two other patients who received similar kidneys in recent years have died.

Rooney, who returned to her Alabama home after coming to New York for treatment, said in a statement that she was grateful for the opportunity to take part in the groundbreaking procedure.

“For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed my time with friends and family without planning dialysis treatments,” Rooney said in a statement provided by Nyu Langone.

“The outcome is not something nobody wanted, but I know I learned a lot from 130 days with pig kidneys. I know this can help and stimulate many others on my journey to overcome kidney disease,” she said.

Hospital officials said Rooney’s kidney function had decreased after experiencing organ rejection. The cause was being investigated, Dr. Montgomery said.

However, the response follows a decrease in immunosuppressive drugs that have been put into treatment of unrelated infections, he added.

The first indication of the trouble was a blood test done in Alabama, showing that Rooney had increased levels of creatinine, a waste product that is removed from the blood through her kidneys. Level elevation signal may be a problem with kidney function.

Rooney was admitted to the hospital, but when creatinine levels continued to rise, she flew to New York. There, the doctor biopsied the kidneys and found clear signs of rejection, Dr. Montgomery said.

Hospital officials said the kidneys were removed last Friday.

“The decision was made by Rooney and her doctors that the safest intervention would be to remove the kidneys and return to dialysis, rather than adding them,” Dr. Montgomery said in a statement.

United Therapeutics Corporation, a biotechnology company that produced the pigs that donated Rooney’s kidneys, thanked her for her courage and said the organs appear to work well to their rejection.

The company plans to start clinical trials for a Butakidney transplant this year, starting with six patients and eventually growing to 50 patients.

Pig organs are considered a potential solution to a lack of donated organs, particularly kidneys. Over 550,000 Americans suffer from kidney failure and need dialysis, of which around 100,000 are on the waiting list to receive their kidneys.

However, there is a sharp need for human organs, with fewer than 25,000 transplants being performed in 2023. Many patients die while waiting.

Source: www.nytimes.com

First-ever pig kidney transplant performed on a living human

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The kidney transplant surgery is the first of its kind in a living person.

Michelle Rose/Massachusetts General Hospital

Surgeons successfully transplanted a pig kidney into a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal disease. Recipient Richard Suleiman is recovering well and is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon, just a few days after surgery.

Is this your first pig kidney transplant?

This is the first time a pig kidney has been transplanted into a living human, marking a major milestone in the field of xenotransplantation, or transplanting animal organs into humans.

“This successful transplant is the culmination of decades of hard work by thousands of scientists and doctors.” Tatsuo Kawai At Massachusetts General Hospital statement. “Our hope is that this transplant approach will provide a lifeline to the millions of patients around the world suffering from kidney failure.”

However, strictly speaking, this is not the first time a kidney has been transplanted from a pig to a human. This surgery has been performed five times in the past, each time on a person declared brain dead and placed on life support. The most recent of these was conducted by Robert Montgomery and colleagues at New York University Langone Health in July 2023. The kidney continued to function for over a month with no signs of rejection or infection.

When was the surgery performed?

Kawai and his colleagues performed the surgery on March 16th. reported that the procedure lasted four hours, and shortly thereafter the kidneys began producing urine and the waste product creatinine. new york times. Suleiman was also able to stop dialysis, which is a further indication that his kidneys are functioning properly.

Where do pig kidneys come from?

The organs were donated by the pharmaceutical company EGenesis. The company breeds pigs that are genetically engineered to carry certain human genes and lack a specific set of pig genes that are harmful to humans. These genetic modifications reduce the chance of transplant rejection, where the immune system attacks the organ and causes it to malfunction. Suleiman is also being given a cocktail of immunosuppressants to further reduce this risk. So far, there are no signs of rejection and Suleiman is able to walk on his own. His doctors hope he will be discharged soon.

What do we know about the recipient?

Suleiman has type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. He had previously received a human kidney from a donor in December 2018. However, the organ showed signs of malfunctioning after about five years. He started dialysis in May last year, but complications arose, and he needed to go to the hospital every two weeks. This seriously affected his quality of life while awaiting his second transplant.

is more than 100,000 people in the US They are waiting for organ transplants, and 17 of them die every day. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the experimental transplant for Suleiman due to a lack of other treatment options.

“I saw it as a way not only to help me but also to give hope to the thousands of people who need transplants to survive,” Suleiman said in a statement.

Have xenotransplant surgeries involving other organs been performed?

Only two other people received xenotransplants, and both received genetically modified pig hearts. The first, a man named David Bennett, died two months later from complications believed to be caused by a swine virus called porcine cytomegalovirus. So scientists genetically inactivated a virus similar to the pig virus from which Suleiman's kidneys came.

The second recipient, a man named Lawrence Fawcett, died six weeks later from transplant rejection.

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Source: www.newscientist.com