Blood Type A2 to B Kidney Transplant Feasible

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 6, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Outcomes are similar for blood type A2 to blood type B and B to B deceased donor kidney transplantation (DDKTx), according to a study published online Jan. 30 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

David Shaffer, M.D., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of 29 consecutive A2 to B and 50 B to B DDKTx. Patients were followed for three years after transplant.

The researchers found that African-Americans comprised 72 and 60 percent of the A2 to B and B to B groups. No difference was seen in mean wait time (58.8 versus 70.8 months). In A2 to B DDKTx, anti-A immunoglobulin G titers were increased at discharge and four weeks. Patient or graft survival, serum creatinine, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) did not differ significantly; during the follow-up period, the trajectories of serum creatinine and eGFR differed between the groups. Significantly higher mean transplant total hospital costs ($114,638 versus $91,697) and hospital costs net organ acquisition costs ($42,356 versus $20,983) were significantly higher for A2 to B transplants.

“This was the first study to report on the costs associated with A2 to B transplantation,” Shaffer said in a statement. “One of our next steps is to look at costs over a broader period of time. We also plan to study ways of bringing down costs.”

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