‘Re-gifting’ of previously transplanted kidneys extends life for new recipients

Sometimes, the gift of life can be “re-gifted.” That is, a kidney previously donated to one person can be re-donated to a new patient after the initial recipient dies, saving yet another life. Procedures in which people receive previously transplanted kidneys are virtually unheard of, but the surgery could save the lives of hundreds of people in the U.S. each year — people who might otherwise die while waiting for a traditional kidney transplant. Typically, previously transplanted kidneys are lost to future use when the first recipient dies. But Dr. Jeffrey Veale, a transplant surgeon atRonald Reagan UCLA Medical Center who has performed the rare surgery three times, maintains that re-donating previously transplanted kidneys should become standard practice.One beneficiary of the surgery is 70-year-old Vertis Boyce, a Las Vegas resident who was freed from the limitations of dialysis in July 2017, when she received a re-gifted kidney from the family of Beto Maldonado.After suffering from kidney disease for most of his life, Maldonado received a kidney transplant in 2015. But he died in an auto accident two years later. Rather than discard the still-usable kidney, his family agreed to donate the organ.For Boyce, the power of the “gift of life” was no less meaningful because it was a re-gift.On March 5, when she met Maldonado ’s mother, Eva, and sister, Linda, the trio barely spoke. Instead, they exchanged hugs. Eva reached out and held her hand over Boyce’s abdom...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news