There is new hope for people who suffer from kidney failure. Scottish scientists have grown kidneys in a laboratory. Edinburgh University researchers created the kidneys from stem cells taken from human amniotic fluid and animal foetuses (the unborn baby of an animal). The artificial organs measure half a centimeter - the same size as a kidney in an unborn baby. The hope is that if the kidneys are transplanted into humans, they would grow into a normal size. The largest long-term study of kidney transplant recipients to date shows progressive
damage to the new kidneys is less than previously reported. The study was published in the April issue of the American Journal of Transplantation. The study involved 797 patients who received transplants between 1998 and 2004. They were followed for five years. The study shows 87 percent of the patients have mild or no sign of progressive scar damage to the transplant organs when doctors looked at the organs at one year after the transplant.
The research team is continuing its work to learn more about why some kidneys still develop problems and how to avoid them. They are also interested in figuring out if kidneys that are doing well at five years are still prone to injury later.
To learn more about this study, please click here.
The ultimate goal of matching a donor kidney with the person seeking transplantation is identification of an organ that will be tolerated indefinitely by the body of the recipient who takes medications to prevent rejection. It is helpful to divide donor and recipient matching into three distinct areas: blood type matching, tissue type matching and crossmatching. Each is a distinct and important aspect of donor and recipient matching for which specific, complex laboratory tests have evolved. Each applies to kidneys from both live donors and deceased donors.
