American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons
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Case Reports
Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carrier Rescues Double-Transplant Patient From Life-Threatening Anemia.
This case describes a 46-year-old male recipient of a kidney-pancreas transplant who is Jehovah's Witness. Early in the postoperative period, he was found to have splenic vein thrombosis requiring heparin infusion. Two days later, he developed severe symptomatic anemia (hemoglobin <6 g/dL). ⋯ The patient's overall clinical condition improved, and he was discharged home. This case describes the first use of HBOC transfusion in a double solid organ transplant patient. HBOC may represent a viable option in patients with severe symptomatic anemia when allogeneic blood transfusion is not an option.
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The emergence of skin-containing vascularized composite allografts (VCAs) has provided impetus to understand factors affecting rejection and tolerance of skin. VCA tolerance can be established in miniature swine across haploidentical MHC barriers using mixed chimerism. Because the deceased donor pool for VCAs does not permit MHC antigen matching, clinical VCAs are transplanted across varying MHC disparities. ⋯ Systemic donor-specific nonresponsiveness was maintained, including after VCA rejection. This study shows that MHC antigen matching influences VCA skin rejection and suggests that local regulation of immune tolerance is critical in long-term acceptance of all VCA components. These results help elucidate novel mechanisms underlying skin tolerance and identify clinically relevant VCA tolerance strategies.