Universal kidney: Know what it is and how it might bring a revolution in healthcare sector
Let us know what actually the new invention the, 'Universal kidney' is and how it might bring about a revolution in health care
Universal kidney has now been invented by the scientist, what is this and how shall it help those who are suffering from kidney ailments or failures or issues, here are a few answers. The most important issue during kidney transplant is whether it will match the recipient or not. However with this invention of universal kidney the need for blood group matching donors has been eliminated. Now kidney transplants will become simpler.
This is great news for millions of people suffering from kidney disease. Scientists from Canada and China have jointly developed a ‘universal kidney’ that can work for patients of all blood groups. This means that the difficulty of finding a donor for kidney transplant may now end. This discovery will not only shorten the waiting list but also save millions of lives.
The biggest challenge in kidney transplantation is blood type matching. If the blood types of the donor and the patient do not match, the body will not accept the kidney. For example, if a person with blood type A is given a kidney from blood type B, the body will reject it as a foreign organ. To prevent this rejection, the patient is given a number of medications. These medications are very expensive and often fail to save lives.
It is worth noting here that the O+ blood type is called the “universal donor” because a person with this blood type can donate kidney and blood to a patient with any blood type, A, B, AB, or O. However, the problem is that this type of kidney is very rare. The demand is so high that about 11 people die every day in just the United States due to lack of a kidney. In India, millions of patients also rely on dialysis because they cannot find a suitable donor. Moreover, the waiting list is so long that many patients die while waiting.
Now, scientists have found a solution to this problem. After years of hard work, a team of scientists have created a kidney that can be suitable for patients with any blood group. It is being called the ‘universal kidney’. This kidney works like a kind of O+ kidney, meaning it can be transplanted into the body of a patient with any blood group.
Reports say scientists tested this kidney on a brain-dead person. In this test, which was done with the consent of the family, the kidney continued to function for a few days. It cleaned the blood, removed waste products, and functioned like a normal kidney. On the third day, the kidney showed some faint traces of type A antibodies, which slightly activated the body’s immune system. However, this response was much lower than normal.
It is yet to be used for mass testing, once the test is done it will be known how useful the universal kidney can really be.
