{"id":595490,"date":"2026-08-17T00:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595490\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T00:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:30:09","slug":"nhs-rolls-out-new-treatment-to-prevent-kidney-transplant-rejections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/595490\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS rolls out new treatment to prevent kidney transplant rejections"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NHS is introducing a “double matching” blood process for kidney transplant patients<\/a> to help ensure donated organs are less likely to be rejected.<\/p>\n

In addition to ensuring blood types match, scientists will now align white blood cells as closely as possible.<\/p>\n

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) stated that the initiative could potentially prevent 100 kidney transplants from being rejected each year.<\/p>\n

Health leaders also hope the move will decrease the number of individuals waiting years for an organ, with some patients currently remaining on the waiting list for decades.<\/p>\n

Health service officials are rolling out the scheme nationwide for all kidney transplant patients following a successful pilot at London’s Hammersmith Hospital and the Royal Free.<\/p>\n

Approximately two in every five kidney transplant recipients require blood transfusions either before or after their operation. After a transfusion, some individuals produce antibodies; if these antibodies target the donated kidney, the likelihood of organ rejection increases.<\/p>\n

\"Laura,<\/p>\n

Laura, 36, from Nottinghamshire, a married mum of one, said matching for HLA types would help alleviate the worry of antibody formation and rejection (PA)<\/p>\n

Her own kidneys were removed due to a Wilms tumour, a type of childhood kidney cancer.<\/p>\n

She had transplants from deceased donors in 1994 and 1997, which were then rejected. She had a kidney from her father in 2004, which is still functioning well.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had more than 10 blood transfusions,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Matching the blood for white blood cells will be extremely helpful because antibodies are always a worry. If I need blood, I am scared I will get them. If that risk can be alleviated it will be a massive relief.<\/p>\n

“This is very much a risk kidney patients worry about. When I get my bloods done, I always want to know there’s no evidence of new antibodies. Antibodies and rejection are always in the back of our minds.”<\/p>\n

Fiona Loud, policy director for Kidney Care UK, said: “The waiting list is sadly at an all time high, so where there are barriers like over-sensitisation, we very much welcome the science that could now make it possible to avoid an immune response which makes it more difficult to achieve or retain a successful kidney transplant.<\/p>\n

“This news is reassuring to kidney patients, who frequently need blood transfusions, and women with kidney disease who want to have children.”<\/p>\n

In June, there were 7,304 people waiting for a kidney transplant or a combined kidney and pancreas transplant, according to NHSBT figures.<\/p>\n

Around 250 to 300 people die waiting for a kidney transplant each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHS is introducing a “double matching” blood process for kidney transplant patients to help ensure donated organs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[252152,252153,103,61,60,27791,225780,76627,43255,210673,173082],"class_list":["post-595490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-blood-transfusions","tag-blood-types","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kidney-cancer","tag-kidney-patients","tag-kidney-transplant","tag-nhs-blood-and-transplant","tag-organ-rejection","tag-white-blood-cells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}