No More Dialysis

[okarol]

No More Dialysis

Reported October, 2007

Los Angeles -- Seventy-thousand Americans are waiting for a kidney transplant. A third of them are parked on dialysis because their antibody levels are too high for a transplant. But that's no longer a barrier for some people.

"I used to just sit around and throw up," says former dialysis patient Soraya Kohanzadeh.

Dialysis is something Kohanzadeh would rather forget, but if telling her story saves lives, it's worth it. Kohanzadeh -- like many kidney failure patients -- developed high levels of "anti-donor" antibodies through blood transfusions. Her highly sensitized immune system would likely reject any donated kidney.

"Essentially, she would have a very short, sick life on dialysis," says Joan Lando, Kohanzadeh's mother.

But Kohanzadeh is no longer here, thanks to intravenous immunoglobulin therapy or IVIG. Here's how it works: during dialysis, patients are given blood containing a mix of immunoglobulins, which "turn-off" the anti-donor antibodies' attack response without suppressing the patient's immune system.

"A significant other comes forward, donates an organ, and there's an incompatibility there. We can treat the patient and remove those antibodies. Then the transplant can be done," Stanley Jordan, M.D., director of nephrology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

More than a year after surgery, Lando's kidney keeps her daughter alive.

"It was sort of shocking to think I wasn't going to have to be sick forever," Kohanzadeh says.

Through their website, this mother-daughter team works to spread the word of a little known therapy that could save thousands in need of a kidney. IVIG is covered by Medicare and can be used in both living and cadaver-donor transplants. Nearly 30 percent of patients on the kidney transplant list might benefit from this therapy. To learn more go to http://www.sevenluckystars.com.

http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/story/2007/10/341a.html

[ssticker]

Not weighing in on one side or the other. I certainly don't know enough about the pros or cons.
But maybe it will start an interesting discussion.

From:  http://groups.msn.com/DialysisTransplantCity/kidneynews.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=7956&LastModified=4675641895620990976
From: Dialysis Joe  (Original Message)   Sent: 10/1/2007 7:02 AM
For the story being referenced, click on the link, below:
 
http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/story/2007/10/341a.html
 
Commentary:  I've never seen so much irresponsible journalism in my entire life.  The media keeps oversimplifying the risks invovled with suppressing the immune systems of patients in order to qualify for transplantation.  The article is titled "No More Dialysis."  In otherwords, the impression given to the public is that all dialysis patients have to do is take a magic potion and they will be able to receive anybody's kidney, irregardless of whether, or not, they are a tissue typing match.
 
Suppressing your immune system is no picnic.  It opens you up to cancer and the possiblity of becoming overwhelmed by any micro-organism.  It can even open a patient up to a super infection, which could kill them.
 
Transplantation is not a cure, but is, instead, just another option in the treatment of ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease).  Like every other treatment option, it has it's risks.  When you are suppressing someone's immune system, those risks can be very high.
 
Informing the public of new transplant technologies is important, but a true journalist explains all sides of the issue.  The media just doesn't do this, anymore.  It's all about sensationalism and emotionalism and has little to do with informing the public about the truth.
 
Joe Atkins, Managing Editor
Dialysis & Transplant City

[BigSky]

I have read several things from Joe on D&T city.

Seems pretty biased against transplants IMO.  Might have to do with his history of owning a dialysis center at one time?  Speculation on my part.

Risks are indeed high with a transplant.  However those risks are far lower than the co-morbidities that WILL occur over time with dialysis.

[paris]

Doesn't it all sound so simple? I have been going through this situation for 2 years and still no kidney. It is harder to find the "golden kidney" for someone with a PRA of 100 than they make it sound.  5 people tested so far and still a no go.      BUT Jill is living proof that it can and does work----so she continues to be my beacon of light in the darkness.  So, we will continue to search for that ellusive perfect (or almost perfect) kidney.   So, in the long run, anything that gets kidney transplants in the news is good.