A Mitchell’s Plain mother has a new lease of life and a new kidney, thanks to a device which enables incompatible transplant, and allowed her brother to donate an organ to her despite his different blood type.
For patients like her, and hundreds of others waiting on the kidney transplantation list for years, the lifeline device offers them renewed hope for the future.
Chervon Meyer’s life was changed forever when her pregnancy in 2013 ended in a stillbirth. Her kidneys also failed, and she was admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital’s dialysis programme, where she has been ever since, as well as on the kidney transplant waiting list.
She had no blood group compatible donors and is blood group O, for which the waiting list has got longer over the years.
In January this year, she underwent the groundbreaking ABO-incompatible transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital through the Glycosorb ABO medical device.
The device was developed to remove the problem of ABO incompatibility by specifically reducing the level of anti-A/B antibodies in the recipient’s plasma, reports News24.
The first ABO-incompatible transplant performed with Glycosorb ABO was in Sweden in 2001, and since then, it’s been used in 29 countries.
Medical experts said that more than 60 scientific papers have been published on the device, showing excellent data on short and long-term outcomes for transplant recipients, reports EWN.
The Groote Schuur procedure was the first for the continent, said nephrologist Dr Zunaid Barday, explaining that the cause of the ABO-incompatibility is the anti-A and/or the anti-B antibodies in the recipient’s plasma.
These antibodies would immediately cause rejection of the new organ and prevent a successful transplant.
“Normally, we wouldn’t be able to do this without a very complicated procedure called plasma exchange. The advantage of this new filter is that it allows us to safely and efficiently remove just that specific antibody that would cause the rejection.
“With this technology, we can now safely transplant many patients across incompatible blood groups, which was an absolute barrier previously. This will allow potential living-kidney donors who were turned down previously because they were the wrong blood group for the person they wanted to donate to, to come forward again to be retested.
“This should result in more patients who have been on the transplant waiting list, sometimes for many years, to get a successful kidney transplant.”
Meyer said she was still adapting to her new life, and being without dialysis for the first time in 10 years.
Grant-Lee Hoffman, transplant co-ordinator at the hospital, said 1 900 people across the province are on renal dialysis treatment and 500 are awaiting a kidney transplant.
“This procedure is safe and economical. Originally, the patient was at higher risk of infection, and it was expensive.”
EWN article – Africa’s first incompatible kidney transplant – Groote Schuur Hospital (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Significant variability in capacity for kidney care across the world
Why I gave my kidney to a stranger — and why you should, too
Discarded kidneys more viable than thought