Thousands of people die every year waiting to get a kidney transplant, but scientists may have had a breakthrough that could increase the supply of donor kidneys.
Donor kidneys have to match the recipient’s blood type, which is a problem for people with less common blood types. But scientists at University of Cambridge have figured out how to convert kidneys from one blood type to another, making them available to a greater number of recipients.
Using a special machine, oxygenated blood infused with an enzyme is passed through the donor kidney, removing blood type markers and converting the kidney to the O blood type, which is the “universal blood type.
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