An ethical analysis of conditional and partially directed live kidney donation among strangers-The Israeli experience.

Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is one of the most effective treatment options for people with end-stage renal disease. Traditionally, LDKT can be either "directed" or "nondirected," based on whether the recipient is specified by the donor. Recently, there has been an increase in conditional and semidirected live kidney donation among strangers, where the donor specifies the characteristics of the recipient whom they wish to donate to. This practice has both gained popularity and sparked controversy in the state of Israel through the nonprofit organization Matnat Chaim. We analyze the ethical implications of this practice by applying traditional principles of medical ethics to conditional LDKT. Although semidirected and conditional LDKT presents some ethical challenges, overall, its practice effectively aligns with core ethical principles. The donors' right to make stipulations respects the donor's autonomy, the practice avoids harm and benefits both donor and recipient, and justice and utility are upheld as the practice specifically benefits marginalized patients and optimizes resource utilization. Finally, we present data from our institution demonstrating how conditional LDKT increased transplantation for all ethnic groups; Jewish recipients of LDKT increased by 151.32% (P = .034) Arab recipients of LDKT increased by 111.11% (P = .036).

An Assessment of the Psychosocial Evaluation for Early Liver Transplantation in Patients With Acute Alcoholic Hepatitis in the Context of Alcohol Use Disorder, a Case-Control Study.

Background: Severe acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH) has an extremely poor prognosis with a high short term mortality rate. As a result, many centers, including our own, have allowed transplant patients to be listed for transplantation prior to achieving 6-months of sobriety. Several scoring systems, designed to target patients with a minimal period of sobriety, have been proposed to identify patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), who would be predisposed to relapse after liver transplantation. We investigated whether these scoring systems corroborated the results of the non-structured selection criteria used by our center regarding decision to list for transplant. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of 11 patients who underwent early liver transplantation for AAH matched with 11 controls who were declined secondary to low insight into AUD. Blinded raters confirmed the severity of the diagnosis of DSM-5 and scored the patients on a variety of structured psychometric scales used to predict alcohol relapse. These included the High Risk for Alcohol Relapse Scale (HRAR), Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment Tool (SIPAT), Alcohol Relapse Risk Assessment (ARRA), Hopkins Psychosocial Scale (HPSS), Michigan Alcoholism Prognosis Score (MAPS), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test -Consumption (AUDIT-C), and Sustained Alcohol Use Post-Liver Transplant (SALT) scales. All patients who underwent transplantation were followed for harmful and non-harmful drinking until the end of the study period. Results: The transplant recipients had significantly favorable MAPS, HRAR, SIPAT, ARRA, and HPSS scores with cutoffs that matched their previous research. The SALT and AUDIT-C scores were not predictive of our selection of patients for transplantation. Despite an expedited evaluation and no significant period of sobriety, our case cohort had a 30% relapse to harmful drinking after an average of 6.6 years (5-8.5 years) of follow-up. Discussion: Despite the rapid assessment and the short to no period of sobriety, the patient cohort demonstrated a 30% relapse to harmful drinking, consistent with the 20% to 30% relapse to drinking rate reported after liver transplantation for all forms of alcoholic liver disease. Average scores from MAPS, HRAR, SIPAT, ARRA, and HPSS corroborated our current stratification procedures, with lower mean risk scores found in the transplanted group. Conclusion: Patients with AUD and severe AAH who obtain new insight into their disease and posses other favorable psychosocial factors have low rates of AUD relapse post-liver-transplantation. The psychosocial selection criteria for patients with alcoholic hepatitis in our institution are consistent with 4 of the 5 scoring systems investigated in their prediction of sobriety post-transplant.

Scoring systems to assess relapse risk in alcohol use disorder presenting for early liver transplantation: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Early liver transplantation (LT) is considered for patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) despite limited sober time when acute mortality risk from liver disease is high. The objective of this paper is to find psychosocial tools that do not rely on extended sober time and predict alcohol relapse post-LT. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of Pubmed, Embase, and Scopus for studies testing psychosocial tools that used numeric scoring to predict post-LT alcohol relapse. Tools that afforded points for length of sobriety were excluded. Each study was analyzed for its clinical context, post-LT relapse outcomes and predictive validity. RESULTS: Five scoring systems across fourteen samples showed varied validity in predicting post-LT alcohol relapse. Relapse to any alcohol use after LT revealed an average relapse rate of 23%. Most scoring systems were understudied but four of five provided cut-off scores with high negative predictive values for relapse. CONCLUSION: Scoring systems may have a place in candidate selection but the data on cut-off scores and predictability are still lacking for their use alone in high stakes LT selection. Larger studies with prospective scoring and standardized follow ups for relapse post-LT will better allow the predictive validity of these psychosocial tools to be compared.

Utilization of the Public Health Ordinance to prevent nosocomial spread in a case of acute measles-associated psychosis.

Measles is a highly contagious disease. A 24 years old patient, recently exposed to measles (unvaccinated), presented in the emergency department with severe agitation, compatible with an acute psychotic episode, during the measles epidemic which spread in Israel in 2018-2019. Upon hospital admission, strict isolation was instructed, yet, without compliance, probably due to the patient's status. Measles diagnosis was promptly confirmed. As measles transmission was eminent, public health measures were employed through immediate implementation of the section 15 of the Public Health Ordinance, allowing for compulsory short-term isolation. The patient's condition improved within a few days and the measures were no longer necessary. This measles case occurred in the pre-Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic when use of a Public Health Ordinance was considered an extreme measure. This is in contrast to the current global use of Public Health laws to enforce strict quarantine and isolation on persons infected or potentially exposed to COVID-19. Nevertheless, minimizing infectious diseases transmission is a core function of public health law. Utilizing legal enforcement in circumstances of immediate public health hazard, such as nosocomial measles transmission, necessitates careful consideration. The integrative clinical and public health approach and prompt measures employed in this exceptional case, led to prevention of further infection spread.

A Novel Integrative Psychotherapy for Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures Based on the Biopsychosocial Model: A Retrospective Pilot Outcome Study.

BACKGROUND: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) represent one of the most sizable treatment challenges in neuropsychiatry. Although the underlying mechanism is far from being understood, several interventions have been suggested. However, patients with comorbid psychiatric diagnoses and epilepsy are excluded from most intervention studies. OBJECTIVE: To To present a within-group posttreatment vs pretreatment study representing the retrospective clinical results of an integrative psychotherapy model. METHODS: We present the clinical results of 22 patients with PNES diagnosed in an epilepsy center and treated in our neuropsychiatry clinic using an integrative rehabilitative psychotherapy. Therapy included presenting the diagnosis, psychoeducation, seizure reduction behavioral techniques, and coping with past and present stressors. Insomuch as integrative biopsychosocial psychotherapy is based on an individualized treatment protocol for each patient, treatment was individualized and case specific. RESULTS: By the end of treatment, 36% of patients had become seizure free and a further 54% achieved a major seizure reduction (reduction of more than 70%). Seventy-two percent of patients kept at least 70% seizure reduction at follow-up. Global Assessment of Functioning scores improved from a mean of 43.09 to a mean of 72.81 at the end of treatment and 69.72 at follow-up. In addition, we present 3 case descriptions that emphasize the individualized nature of psychotherapeutic decisions. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the feasibility and effectiveness of biopsychosocial based integrative psychotherapy for PNES and set principles for future treatment and prospective clinical trials in the field of individualized psychotherapy.

Memory and motor control in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are of the most elusive phenomena in epileptology. Patients with PNES present episodes resembling epileptic seizures in their semiology yet lacking the underlying epileptic brain activity. These episodes are assumed to be related to psychological distress from past trauma, yet the underlying mechanism of this manifestation is still unknown. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated functional connectivity changes within and between large-scale brain networks in 9 patients with PNES, compared with a group of 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses identified functional connectivity disturbances between the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and the sensorimotor cortex and between the MTL and ventral attention networks in patients with PNES. Within network connectivity reduction was found within the visual network. Our findings suggest that PNES relate to changes in connectivity in between areas that are involved in memory processing and motor activity and attention control. These results may shed new light on the way by which traumatic memories may relate to PNES.