I hadn't heard of a relationship between low GFR/kidney donation and high parathyroid hormone levels. However, I asked a chatbot (Gemini), and it says there can be a relationship. It cited a 2024 study of 74 living kidney donors that revealed "This reduction in kidney function [from living donation] was accompanied by an increase in parathyroid hormone (PTH) and fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), key markers in bone and mineral metabolism." An article reviewing the study results is here. So, evidently it's a "thing" for living kidney donors. Who knew? (No me.)

Gemini provided a fairly detailed answer about the relationship, so maybe you can ask your favorite chatbot the question and see what you get.

I'm glad you're seeing a nephrologist!

Well the good news for me is that CKD3 allows me 4 periodontal dental cleanings a year versus 2 with my insurance. 

I just started seeing a nephrologist.  I donated back in 2012.  I am 74.  My EGFR is 57.  Everything else looks pretty good but something new.  My parathyroid hormone came out to be 81 with 65 and below being normal.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

Dear Mac,

  So sorry to hear this! What a set of challenges for you all! I hope all five of you are able to talk candidly and supportively with each other about all your hopes. I hope you have someone outside your family with whom to air these worries, too. I'm sure your support of all of them, and your ongoing willingness to be a donor, even if to a stranger as part of a chain, overwhelms each and every one of them, too. Tragic life threatening situations are what we hope to ameliorate, as much as we can. Best wishes to you all!

Hi all. Quarterly run in the pooled donation system did not find a match for myself and my husband,  so onto the next run in a few months time.

Unfortunately in the last few months two of my adult sons have now also been diagnosed with PKD, and our third nearly adult son who's been having some symptoms is going to have initial ultrasound testing.

This has really thrown me. Of course my husbands illness and surgery prospects have been stressful, but knowing my children may go through similar is incredibly worrying. I have also been left with a huge emotional dilemma. My husband is obviously most in clinical need of a transplant which would hopefully last him a good while. My children may or may not develop severe kidney failure.  Our youngest is experiencing symptoms at quite a young age in comparison to his father and siblings.

Of course l still want to help my husband. But I'm absolutely torn knowing that if I do I obviously don't have the chance to help any of my children in the future should they need it. ( Although that brings yet again another cycle of concerns, how could l choose between them if a match, directly or through a paired programme?) As a parent l think instinctively you want to protect and help your children above anyone else.

I love my husband dearly and want him to have as good and as long a life as he can, but of course l want the same for my children, adult or not. It has turned what is a stressful situation into quite an emotionally overwhelming one and l just can't seem to find a way of how to realistically move forward. If feels as if whatever l do will be to someone's detriment.

https://abc13.com/post/memorial-hermann-transplant-former-surgeon-acknowledges-changing-patient-criteria-documents-state/19087941/

Former surgeon accused of altering patient records says he did it to 'help his patients,' docs state

A former surgeon, accused of manipulating a transplant list, said he did it to help his patients. This is all according to a new motion filed in the case.
ABC13 first reported on the allegations against Dr. John Bynon in 2024. This happened when Memorial Hermann suspended its liver transplant program over the allegations that Dr. Bynon altered several patients' medical records, making it impossible for them to get donor livers.
In February 2026, Bynon was indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of falsifying medical records.
Now, in a motion to dismiss the case, Bynon acknowledges he changed the acceptance criteria for five patients because he claims they were not healthy enough to undergo a transplant. The document adds that Bynon kept them on the "active" waitlist until their health improved.
According to the motion, the changes were "consistent" with COVID-19 guidance given by the "United Network for Organ Sharing" (UNOS), which maintains the organ database.
Dr. Bynon also faces three civil cases related to the scandal.

https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/spotlight-on-giselle-guerra-executive-director-miami-transplant-institute/

Spotlight On: Giselle Guerra, Executive Director, Miami Transplant Institute

Key points:

• • Miami Transplant Institute is advancing transplant care through robotics, AI, and complex multi-organ procedures.
• • Leaders are pushing to expand living donation by breaking myths around donor safety and recovery.
• • MTI combines innovation with personalized, culturally aware care to improve patient outcomes.

As medical director of the living kidney donor program at the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI), a joint enterprise between UHealth—University of Miami Health System and Jackson Health System, Giselle Guerra leads a specialized program at one of the nation's most ambitious transplant centers, one that routinely takes on complex, multi-organ cases that other places decline. Guerra spoke with Invest: about MTI's focus on living donation, robotic surgery, artificial intelligence, and xenotransplantation. "There are significant myths and misconceptions about what it means to be a living donor. The reality is that you can live a full, healthy, productive life after donating," Guerra said.

...

https://www.healthcare-brew.com/stories/2026/05/05/launched-nonprofit-democratize-transplant-information

This couple launched a nonprofit to democratize transplant information
At 31, Tristan Mace needed a heart transplant, and the experience showed him how much the industry needed better information around care.

ByCassie McGrath
MAY 5, 2026

Five years ago, when he was 31 years old, Tristan Mace was in a coma in the hospital. The venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur had initially thought he had pneumonia but soon learned his heart was failing.
That left Jordan Mace, his wife who was three months pregnant with their first child at the time, to make a big decision: Should Tristan get a heart transplant?
She told us she was handed a binder with an overwhelming amount of information and given 24 hours to decide. It had answers to everything from whether a transplant recipient can get a tattoo or have a cat to if they can have children, she recalled.
The procedure was successful, but it left the couple with a new mission to make the transplant process easier for other patients and caregivers.
That's why on May 5 they launched the nonprofit transplants.org, a site that digitizes all those different binders to provide a one-stop shop for reliable, up-to-date transplant information.
...

https://www.healio.com/news/nephrology/20260505/qa-whats-new-in-living-kidney-donation-evaluation-and-counseling

Q&A: What's new in living kidney donation, evaluation and counseling


Key takeaways:

• Innovations in living donation counseling include genetic testing, a race-neutral eGFR equation and hypertension guidelines.
• Clinicians can ask patients with advanced CKD what they know about living donation.

Living kidney donation has received increased attention in clinical practice and in the media since the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes published clinical practice guidelines on living donation in 2017.
In a review published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Krista Lentine, MD, PhD, medical director of living donation at the SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital Transplant Center, and colleagues highlighted insights that have emerged since the KDIGO guideline publication. Among these, genetic testing, use of a race-neutral eGFR equation and hypertension guidelines have led to changes that may be considered in future guideline updates, they wrote.


Outside of the review, recent news stories, such as actor Jesse Eisenberg's kidney donation, have also brought public awareness to the act of living kidney donation. Eisenberg made a nondirected kidney donation in late 2025.
In addition, policy-driven movements to expand access and support for living donation are being proposed at the federal level.
Healio spoke with Lentine about how clinicians can inform patients about the benefits and risks for living donation and the power of storytelling in building awareness.

...

https://www.niskanencenter.org/investigating-the-investigators-congressional-oversight-and-state-capacity/

Investigating the investigators: Congressional oversight and state capacity
Justin Cohen


...
What should the future of congressional oversight look like? One good model is the bipartisan coalition of Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Todd Young (R-IN), and Ben Cardin (D-MD), who in 2020 investigated the government's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) program, which a single federal contractor, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), had managed for 40 years. From numerous hearings and reports, the group of senators determined that UNOS's management had led to significant failures, including the discarding of organs that were viable for transplants.
The group's final report noted that experts estimated its recommendations to improve OPTN — chiefly, opening OPTN to more contractor competition — would allow 28,000 more transplants each year and save up to $40 billion over the next decade. The senators championed the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act (H.R.2544), which incorporated many of their recommendations when President Joseph R. Biden signed it into law in 2023.
...