July 21 - Last year, surgeons across the U.S. transplanted nearly 43,000 organs into the bodies of sick patients. It was the most organs ever transplanted in one year, and the United Network for Organ Sharing, the Richmond-based nonprofit that oversees transplantation, trumpeted the number as a milestone. But a study by two transplant experts indicates that the number of kidneys, livers and lungs recovered for transplantation is nothing to celebrate. The real driver of increased organ donation, they said, is the opioid epidemic, which is killing young and middle-aged Americans at a staggering rate.

July 19 - A group of Stellenbosch University medical students is using technology to raise awareness of organ donation. The Save7 initiative is like ChatGPT, except it's an expert in the field of organ donation.

July 20 - Disparities in receipt of liver transplantation and mortality persisted over time among hospitalized Black and Hispanic patients with decompensated cirrhosis compared with their white counterparts, according to data in JAMA Network Open.

July 20 - A new study identifies how certain proteins in the immune system interact leading to organ rejection. The study, which involved experiments on mice and human patients, uncovered an important communication pathway between two molecules called CEACAM1 (CC1) and TIM-3, finding that the pathway plays a crucial role in controlling the body's immune response during liver transplantation.

July 20 - A man has remained in treatment-free HIV remission for nearly 2 years after receiving a stem cell transplant to treat a rare and aggressive form of leukemia, researchers reported last week.