Washington, Aug 28: Kidney transplant will now be possible for patients with high levels of antibodies. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, are using a new approach that filters out antibodies prior to surgery to overcome a major barrier to kidney transplantation in some patients.
Historically, these patients have been ineligible for transplants because of fears that high levels of antibodies in the blood would result in the transplanted organ being rejected, according to a report in Newswise.
The Mayo team claims that it has transplanted kidneys into 29 patients in this most-difficult-to-treat group, with an 80 percent success rate. One to three years following the operations, 23 of the 29 patients have reported having good, healthy functioning kidneys.

"As soon as a donor kidney becomes available, this subset of patients usually turns out to have antibodies against it, so they don't get a transplant and end up going back on the waiting list, waiting for a donated organ that they don't have antibodies against", said Dr. James Gloor, a transplant nephrologist. "But because they have such high antibody levels, the desired 'negative cross-match' as it's called, hardly ever happens. This can go on for 10 to 15 years. They often die on the waiting list, waiting for a negative cross-match", Gloor noted.
Bureau Report