PATIENT STORY :
TRANSPLANTING ORGANS FROM HEP C + DONORS DECREASES WAIT TIMES
PATIENT STORIES – KIDNEY
Four years ago , 28-year-old Ana Kenney was told that she would either spend the rest of her life on dialysis or have to wait up to 10 years for a kidney transplant .
Today , she has a working kidney and is off dialysis , thanks to a new organ transplant program at UAB Medicine . Doctors at UAB are now able to safely transplant organs from hepatitis C-positive donors into uninfected recipients and then cure the hepatitis C with antiviral therapy .
This has allowed more organs to be transplanted , helping patients get transplanted sooner and enabling more people to lead healthier and longer lives . In the past , organs from hepatitis C-positive donors were available only for hepatitis C-positive recipients , which led to many such organs being discarded .
“ The shortage of organs is a major impediment in access to lifesaving therapy of transplantation in patients with end-stage organ failure ,” says Shikha Mehta , MD , a nephrologist who specializes in kidney transplantation in the UAB Division of Nephrology . “ About 18 patients die each day waiting for an organ transplant . As a sad and unintended consequence of the opioid epidemic , there is an increased availability of hepatitis C-positive organs . Our new program helps combat the organ shortage and provides improved access to transplantation by using this pool of organs .”
A NEW ERA In October 2019 , UAB Medicine began transplanting kidneys and livers from infected donors into uninfected patients . The recipients are told ahead of time that the organ is from a hepatitis C-positive donor and that they will have to be treated for the illness after the transplant . If the patient agrees , the transplant candidate will receive the transplant and immediately start the three-month treatment .
Kenney , who was born with one kidney and later learned that it was no longer working , says receiving the new organ has changed her life since she was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2016 . She was contacted by UAB Medicine in October 2019 and was asked if she would be willing to receive an organ from a hepatitis C-positive donor . She agreed , and a few weeks later on November 11 , Kenney received a call saying that a kidney was available . Her kidney transplant surgery took place the next day .
“ I can stay up late again . I can have late nights with my husband . I can have sleepovers with my kids again where we put blankets in our living room and stay up watching movies and eating popcorn . I can go out with my family and we no longer have to be home by 8:30 or 9 pm so I can plug into the dialysis machine ,” Kenney says .
Ana Kenney received her kidney at UAB Hospital on Nov . 12 , 2019 .
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE To date , UAB has transplanted more than two-dozen kidneys and over a dozen livers from hepatitis C-positive donors to hepatitis-C negative recipients . Physicians plan to begin transplanting hearts and lungs from hepatitis C-infected donors in the future .
“ There are more than 112,000 people in the United States who are currently waiting for an organ transplant , but there are not enough donors available to meet that need ,” says Babak Orandi , MD , PhD , a surgeon in the Division of Transplantation who specializes in liver , kidney , and pancreas transplants . “ By using organs that might have been discarded in the past simply because the donor had hepatitis C , we can help more people achieve the benefits of transplantation .”
22 UAB CTI Report