Image: IMSS Specialty Hospital in Jalisco, Mexico, wich was awarded by WTC 2014 / Source: El Informador
The Department of Nephrology at the Specialty Hospital in Jalisco — facility belonging to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) — and Virginia Ibarra Pedroza, who completed her medical specialty in that area, were awarded by the World Transplant Congress, held in San Francisco, California.
IMSS’s expert was recognized for a research that set precedents in the application of pharmacological treatments, in order to reduce chances of rejection and increase organic graft survival in transplanted patients with immunological risk.
The chief of nephrology at the hospital and director of Ibarra Pedroza’s thesis, Benjamin Gomez Navarro, explained that it is the first time they receive an international award. He said that this distinction encourages doctors to continue working on scientific research, to improve IMSS beneficiaries’ quality of life.
Ibarra Pedroza explained that the study included 370 transplanted patients with high immunological risk and likely to have graft failure. She said that patients were on average 30 years old, and had to have certain characteristics, such as have had a previous transplant, have received a kidney from an unrelated living donor, have undergone blood transfusions before transplantation, and have had a previous pregnancy (in the case of women). Furthermore, she said, members had to result with over 20 percent chance of organic rejection, according with a cross-match test.
She indicated that subjects were administered an immunosuppressive drug called Timoglobulina, which is commonly used in people who are presenting symptoms of organic rejection, in order to stabilize them.
However, in Dr. Ibarra Pedroza’s study, the drug was given to all patients as a preventive measure, without having to have any signals of rejection. The participants received the drug the day of their surgery and three days after the transplantation.
Patients were monitored for three years after the procedure to analyze the transplanted graft response and perform a leukocytes and platelets counts, she said.
She considered that the main achievement was to establish the appropriate dose for those transplanted with immunological risk, in order to avoid rejection. Both doses were delineated on a milligram per kilogram of body weight.
The study showed that graft survival was increased to 95 percent three years later. Also, participants showed a 10 percent infections reduction.
Since this study was completed, this treatment was established as the standard at the Department of Nephrology for those undergoing a transplantation that are considered at immunological risk.
In this regard, Dr. Gomez Navarro, said that previously 15 percent of patients with organic rejection symptoms eventually lost the graft, however since the application of this treatment, this has been reduced to half.
Source: Notimex
