February 22 - Recent Transplant News
Friday, February 22, 2013
Late onset cytomegalovirus in lung transplant recipients: Can cmv serostatus guide the duration of prophylaxis?
Source: American Journal of Transplantation (subscription required)
Evidence supports the use of 12 months of cytomegalovirus prophylaxis in all at-risk lung transplants; whether cytomegalovirus serostatus can be used to further optimize this duration remains to be determined. The purpose of a recent retrospective study was to determine if cytomegalovirus serostatus of both donor and recipient were associated with late-onset cytomegalovirus. Read more.
Platelet count predictive of mortality in patients awaiting liver transplant
Source: Healio
Patients with low platelet counts on a waiting list for liver transplantation had higher death rates and shorter survival times than those with higher platelet counts in a recent study. Researchers performed tests and volumetric liver measurements on 181 patients scheduled for liver transplantation between January 2001 and April 2006, with follow-up through January 2011. Read more.
Non-invasive biomarkers to guide management following renal transplantation: The need for a multiplatform approach
Source: Current Opinion on Organ Transplantation (subscription required)
It has become clear that to obtain a test suitable for clinical purposes, combinations of markers are required to identify specific clinical phenotypes. Identification and validation of such marker sets in large cohorts is urgently required to allow progression to clinical trials with the ultimate goal of offering recipients personalized anti-rejection therapy regimes. Read more.
FDA approves Zortress to prevent liver transplant rejection
Source: Healio
The FDA recently approved mTOR inhibitor Zortress for the prevention of organ rejection in adult recipients of a liver transplant. Zortress (everolimus, Novartis Pharmaceuticals) is the first immunosuppressant in more than 10 years and the first mTOR inhibitor to receive FDA approval for use following liver transplantation, Novartis said. The drug previously had been approved in the United States for therapy in kidney transplant recipients. Read more.
Low-dose steroids associated with milder histological changes after pediatric liver transplantation
Source: Liver Transplantation (subscription required)
Controversy remains about the role of protocol liver biopsy for symptom-free recipients and about the long-term use of low-dose steroids after pediatric liver transplantation (LT). We conducted a national cross-sectional study of pediatric recipients who underwent LT between 1987 and 2007. Liver biopsy samples were taken from 54 patients (82 percent of survivors) after a median posttransplant follow-up of 11 years, and they were reviewed by two pathologists blinded to the clinical data. Read more.
Aggressive lung donor management increases graft procurement without increasing renal graft loss after transplantation
Source: Clinical Transplantation
A study was conducted recently to determine the impact of an aggressive protocol on the rate of lung grafts available for transplant. Researchers analyzed the impact of this management on kidney graft survival after kidney transplantation. Aggressive management strategy in potential lung donors, which includes ventilator recruitment maneuvers, PEEP ≥8 cm H2O, the use of HRT and restrictive fluid balance increases the rate of lung grafts available for transplantation without adverse effect on kidney graft survival. Read more.
Cardiovascular events in kidney transplant patients linked to cytomegalovirus
Source: Renal & Urology News
Pre-transplant cytomegalovirus (CMV) exposure and post-transplant CMV replication contribute to an elevated risk of cardiovascular events in kidney transplant recipients, according to investigators. Cécile Courivaud, MD, of Saint Jacques Hospital in Besançon, France, and colleagues studied 570 renal transplant recipients (RTR) who had a follow-up of 87 months. Read more.
Donor risk factors, retrieval technique, preservation and ischemia/reperfusion injury in pancreas transplantation
Source: Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation (subscription required)
Pancreas transplantation is still hampered by a high incidence of early graft loss, and organ quality concerns result in high nonrecovery/discard rates. Demographic donor characteristics, surgical retrieval strategy, preservation fluid and ischemia time are crucial factors in the process of organ selection and are discussed in this review. Read more.