HIV-positive transplants to be available at Yale New Haven

NEW HAVEN >> HIV-positive patients will now be able to receive transplanted organs from HIV-positive donors at Yale New Haven Hospital.

The hospital is one of eight transplant centers to receive approval from the United Network for Organ Sharing to accept organs that are from HIV-positive donors, as a result of the 2013 HIV Organ Policy Equity Act.

Such transplants were illegal in the United States before the HOPE Act’s passage, although they have been done in South Africa, according to a Yale New Haven press release.

The first HIV-to-HIV liver and kidney transplants in the United States took place at Yale New Haven on March 19, according to the hospital. They were performed by a team from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

“HIV patients are living longer due to effective anti-retroviral treatment,” said Dr. Maricar Malinis, medical director of transplant infectious diseases at Yale New Haven, in the release. However, end-stage kidney disease is increasing in the HIV-positive population, he said.

Allowing HIV-positive people to donate their organs will greatly reduce the waiting time for patients living with the virus and increase the number of organs available overall, according to the release.

“The shortage of donated organs is very real for our patients, as they wait day after day for that life-altering call that an organ is available for them,” said Dr. Peter Yoo, director of the hospital’s Paired Kidney Exchange Program.

“We are proud and excited that the Yale New Haven Transplant Center is able to be part of the vanguard leading the push to increase opportunities for transplantation for all of our patients.”

According to UNOS, out of 17,878 kidney transplants in the United States in 2015, just 218 were HIV-positive patients, according to the release.

The first eligible patients will be enrolled this month, Yoo said in the release.