Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Transplantation, Yale / 17.05.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael Fuery, MD Department of Internal Medicine Yale School of Medicine Katherine Clark, MD MBA Division of Cardiovascular Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Yale School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Racial and ethnic disparities affect cardiac transplantation outcomes. In cohort analyses of racial and ethnic groups from the previous three decades, Black patients were constantly at a higher risk of mortality after cardiac transplantation. In 2018, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) revised the allocation system to expand access to organs for the most medically urgent patients and reduce disparities and regional differences. We sought to evaluate contemporary trends and impact of the new 2018 allocation system. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease / 06.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rita R. Alloway, PharmD, FCCP Research Professor of Medicine Director, Transplant Clinical Research University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Nephrology Kidney C.A.R.E. Program (Clinical Advancement, Research & Education) Cincinnati OH 45267  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Transplant recipients are required to take lifelong immunosuppression to sustain the function of their transplant.  Unfortunately these immunosuppressants have significant side effects.  The most significant of these side effects are worsening kidney function, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, post transplant diabetes, tremors and headaches.  Researchers focused on improving post transplant outcomes are looking for immunosuppressant regimens with similar efficacy while minimizing harmful side effects. Tacrolimus and steroids are the immunosuppressants associated with the worst side effect profiles.  This study eliminated both of these immunosuppressants and replace tacrolimus with belatacept.  Belatacept is a once monthly intravenous infusion with a more favorable side effect profile compared to tacrolimus.  In addition, since it is a monthly infusion, adherence can improved compared to an oral medication taken twice daily. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Surgical Research, Transplantation, Yale / 09.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sanjay Kulkarni, MD MHCM FACS Associate Professor of Surgery & Medicine Surgical Director – Kidney Transplant Program Medical Director – Center for Living Organ Donors Scientific Director – Yale Transplant Research New Haven, CT 06410 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The kidney allocation system changed in December of 2014. The aim of the new system was to increase transplant in patients who were highly sensitized (difficult matches based on reactive antibodies) and to improve access to underserved populations. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Kidney Disease, Medicare, Transplantation / 07.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Allyson Hart MD MS Department of Medicine, Hennepin Healthcare, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Kidney transplantation confers profound survival, quality of life, and cost benefits over dialysis for the treatment of end-stage kidney disease. Kidney transplant recipients under 65 years of age qualify for Medicare coverage following transplantation, but coverage ends after three years for patients who are not disabled. We studied 78,861 Medicare-covered kidney transplant recipients under the age of 65, and found that failure of the transplanted kidney was 990 percent to 1630 percent higher for recipients who lost Medicare coverage before this three-year time point compared with recipients who lost Medicare on time. Those who lost coverage after 3 years had a lesser, but still very marked, increased risk of kidney failure. Recipients who lost coverage before or after the three-year time point also filled immunosuppressive medications at a significantly lower rate than those who lost coverage on time. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Pediatrics, Transplantation, Vaccine Studies / 15.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amy G. Feldman, MD, MSCS Assistant Professor, Pediatrics-Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition Program Director, Liver Transplant Fellowship Children's Hospital Colorado University of Colorado Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Pediatric solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk for vaccine preventable infections due to life-long immunosuppressive medications.  The objectives of this study were to 1) evaluate in pediatric    solid organ transplant recipients the number of hospitalizations for vaccine-preventable infections in the first five years post-transplantation and 2) determine the associated morbidity, mortality and costs. In this multicenter cohort study of 6980 children who underwent solid organ transplantation from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2011, at a center participating in Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), 15% of individuals had at least 1 hospitalization for a vaccine-preventable infection in the first 5 years after transplant.  Children who received transplants when they were younger than 2 years and recipients of lung, intestine, heart, and multi-visceral organs were at increased risk for hospitalization with a vaccine-preventable infection.  Transplant hospitalizations complicated by a vaccine-preventable infection were $120,498 more expensive (median cost) and were on average 39 days longer than transplant hospitalizations not complicated by vaccine-preventable infections (more…)
Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 18.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chirag R Parikh, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. Director,Division of Nephrology Professor of Medicine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21287  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The initial study idea stemmed from our earlier cohort studies of predictors of delayed graft function after kidney transplantation.  We previously found that kidneys from donors with Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) were more often discarded than kidneys from donors without AKI, and transplanted donor AKI kidneys were at increased risk for delayed graft function. It was important to determine whether that increased risk for delayed graft function also translated into worse long-term outcomes for recipients of kidneys from donors with AKI. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 18.07.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mark H. Eckman, MD Posey Professor of Clinical Medicine Director, Division of General Internal Medicine Director, Center for Clinical Effectiveness University of Cincinnati Medical Center Cincinnati, OH  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: People who are infected with hepatitis C virus and have kidney failure need a kidney transplant. Recent studies have found that it is possible to transplant kidneys from donors who are infected with hepatitis C virus into patients who need a transplant and are already infected with the virus. In addition, drugs are available to cure most patients of hepatitis C virus, including those who have kidney failure. Infected patients who need a kidney transplant have 2 options. One option is to receive an infected kidney and then use drugs after the transplant to cure themselves and the transplanted kidney of the virus. Another option is to use the drugs first to get rid of the virus and then to receive a kidney from a donor who does not have hepatitis C virus infection. For the more than 500,000 patients receiving dialysis for end-stage renal disease (ESRD), less than 4% receive kidney transplants. Because of the limited organ availability, hemodialysis is the final treatment for most patients with ESRD. Of the 10% or so of U.S. patients receiving dialysis who are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), some are willing to accept HCV-infected kidneys, in part, because the wait times for such kidneys are shorter than those for HCV-uninfected kidneys. Because the yearly mortality rate for patients receiving hemodialysis is so high, between 4% and 16%, reducing the time to kidney transplant can have a dramatic effect on both survival and quality of life. Because it may not be possible to do this type of research with actual people, we created a model that allowed us to estimate possible outcomes without using actual people. The model was a computer program that combined the best available information to approximate what might happen to participants in a real-world clinical trial. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Transplantation / 05.01.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jagpreet Chhatwal, PhD Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School MGH Institute for Technology Assessment Boston, MA and Sumeyye Samur PhD Postdoctoral Fellow MGH-Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The number of patients who are in need of liver transplant continues to rise whereas the availability of organs remains limited, therefore, it becomes is important to utilize all available livers. Under the current practices, only Hep-C infected patients are eligible to receive infected livers. However, with the advent of high efficacy drugs, number of infected recipients has decreased over the last decade. On the other hand, with the rise of opioid use, number of Hep-C infected organs increased. With this contradiction, it becomes paramount of importance to utilize the infected livers which could help save more lives on the transplant waiting list. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Melanoma, Transplantation, University of Pennsylvania / 17.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thuzar M.Shin MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Dermatology Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) collects data on cancers that develop after organ transplantation. Previous studies have shown incomplete reporting to the OPTN for many cancers (including melanoma). Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in solid organ transplant recipients and the most common post-transplant skin cancer, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), is not captured in standard cancer registries. We hypothesized that cSCC and melanoma are underreported to the OPTN. When compared to detailed medical record review obtained from the Transplant Skin Cancer Network database (JAMA Dermatol. 2017 Mar 1;153(3):296-303), we found that the sensitivity of reporting to the OPTN was only 41% for cSCC and 22% for melanoma. The specificity (99% for cSCC and 100% for melanoma) and negative predictive values (93% for cSCC and 99% for melanoma) were high. As a result, the OPTN database is unable to robustly and reliably distinguish between organ transplant recipients with and without these two skin malignancies. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Leukemia, Transplantation / 19.09.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Huisheng Ai, MD, Director Department of Hematology and Transplantation, Affiliated Hospital of the Academy  of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, China  MedicalResearch.com: Which of these results did you find most interesting or surprising? Response: First, we must stress that microtransplant dramatically improved the outcome of older patients with AML. As we know, older AML patients often possess unfavorable prognostic factors, organ dysfunction, and slow post-chemotherapy hematopoietic recovery. Therefore, the general treatment outcome is unsatisfactory even though the incidence is increasing by age with low complete remission (CR) rates (34% to 65%) and poor short-term survival (Two years overall survival was about 11% to 25%). This study involved cases from multiple centers of China, USA and Spain, and found that microtransplant could not only significantly improve complete remission rate in older AML patients among all age groups from 60 to 85, but also improve 1-year and 2-year overall survival and disease free survival especially in patients aged 60 to 75. Second, microtransplant completely overcomes the restriction of HLA typing. The donor could be the patient’s haploidentical family member, or unrelated and fully mismatched one. The incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was only 1.1%, even if no any GVHD prevention was given. Other treatment related complications and mortality were also decreased. These results are much better than those of traditional chemotherapy, myeloablative and non-myeloablative transplant, which provides a more safe and effective treatment choice. We are looking forward to seeing the revision of NCCN guideline for older AML to make microtransplant benefit more older patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, NEJM, Transplantation / 04.08.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stanley C. Jordan, M.D Director, Division of Nephrology Medical Director, Kidney Transplant Program Medical Director, Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, CA  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study is as follows: Patients who are highly HLA sensitized have antibodies to transplant targets create an immunologic barrier to transplant. Currently, there are no approved therapies for elimination of these antibodies. Desensitization is available but is not always successful and most desensitized patients are still transplanted with a positive crossmatch. Thus, many patients are not able to receive life-saving kidney transplants unless newer therapies to remove antibodies are found. The findings of our study published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that the use of the enzyme from streptococcal pyogenes called IdeS® (IgG endopeptidase) is very effective in eliminating donor specific antibodies and allowing transplantation to occur. Antibodies were eliminated from one week up to two months after one treatment with Ides® allowing a safe environment for the transplant to occur. Rejections episodes did occur in some of the patients but were generally mild and easily treatable. Only one patient of 25 lost his allograft during the study. Thus, the study shows promising results for a new approach for elimination of pathogenic antibodies that did not exist before. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Kidney Disease, Lancet, Merck / 01.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Annette Bruchfeld MD, PhD Senior Consultant Associate Professor Karolinska Institute Dept of Renal Medicine, M99 Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge Stockholm, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In patients with stage 4–5 chronic kidney disease(CKD), hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can accelerate the decline in kidney function, impair health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and decrease survival chances of both patients and grafts in transplantation recipients. In this study additional data from patients with stage 4–5 chronic kidney disease undergoing treatment for HCV infection in the C-SURFER study, including HRQOL and resistance analyses was presented not previously reported for this patient population with gwnotype 1 infection. The final virological analysis of this study indicated a high cure rate with sustained virological response at 12 weeks after the end of treatment (SVR12) in more than 98% of all treated patients. Even in patients with resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) the SVR was high in 11 (84·6%) of 13 patients genotype 1a infection. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Mineral Metabolism, Nutrition, Social Issues, Transplantation / 25.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ms. Shifra Mincer Medical Student in the class of 2019 SUNY Downstate Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Hypophosphatemia is commonly encountered in the post-transplant setting. Early post-transplant hypophosphatemia has been ascribed to excess FGF23 and hyperphosphaturia. Many patients remain hypohosphatemic months or even years after their transplant and the mechanism was assumed to be the same, however, our group recently reported that patients with late post-transplant hypophosphatemia had very little phosphorous in their urine (Wu S, Brar A, Markell, MS. Am J Kidney Dis. 2016,67(5): A18). We hypothesized that they were not eating enough phosphorous to compensate for the acute phosphorous losses they experienced immediately post-transplant. In this study, using both 3-day diet journals and 24-hour diet recall questionnaires, we found that mean intake of phosphorous and protein was barely at the Recommended Daily Allowance, and that despite 70% of the patients using EBT, 30% of those patients still reported concerns regarding food security. Patients who reported that the cost of food influenced their dietary choices ate 43% less protein (average 48,5 gms vs. 85.8 gms) and 29% less phosphorous (average 887 mg vs 1257 mg). When ability to rise from a chair over a 30 second period was evaluated, only patients who expressed food cost concerns were unable to complete the test. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, JAMA, Race/Ethnic Diversity, Transplantation / 10.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Christina Lee Chung, MD, FAAD Associate Professor of Dermatology Director, Center for Transplant Patients Drexel University College of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It’s long been recognized immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients are at significantly increased risk for skin cancer and other types of skin disease. But despite advances to improve skin cancer prevention for these patients, little is known about how skin conditions affect African-American, Asian and Hispanic transplant recipients. This is problematic given that, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of the 120,000 Americans on the waiting list for organs identify as nonwhite. We compared medical records of 412 organ transplant recipients — including 154 white patients and 258 nonwhite (black, Asian or Hispanic) — who were referred to the Drexel Dermatology Center for Transplant Patients between 2011 and 2016. As one of the only models of its kind in the country, the center provides post-transplant dermatological care to every patient who is transplanted by and/or followed by the Drexel University and Hahnemann University Hospital Transplant Programs. That means that every patient, regardless of race, is screened annually for skin cancer, which provided a unique dataset for us to analyze. Two hundred eighty-nine transplant recipients exhibited malignant, infectious or inflammatory conditions during their evaluation, but their primary acute diagnoses differed greatly by race. In 82 white patients, skin cancer was the most common acute problem requiring attention at first visit. Black and Hispanic patients, by contrast, were most often diagnosed with inflammatory or infectious processes, such as fungal infections, warts, eczema, psoriasis, and rashes that required immediate medical attention. Overall, squamous cell carcinoma in situ was the most common type of skin cancer diagnosed in each racial or ethnic group. But the location of the cancerous lesions again depended on the race of the patient. Most lesions in white and Asian patients occurred in sun-exposed areas of the body, like the scalp, neck, chest and back. For black patients, the lesions were primarily found in the groin.  Moreover, six of the nine lesions found on black patients tested positive for high-risk HPV strains, suggesting an association between the virus and skin cancer for African Americans. We also provided questionnaires to 66 organ transplant recipients to find out more about the patients’ awareness of skin cancer prevention. Seventy-seven percent of white patients were aware their skin cancer risk was increased, compared to 68 percent of nonwhites. Only 11 percent of nonwhite patients reported having regular dermatologic examinations, compared to 36 percent of whites. Finally, 45 percent of white patients but only 25 percent of nonwhite reported knowing the signs of skin cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Immunotherapy, Leukemia, Transplantation, University of Pennsylvania / 05.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alex Ganetsky, PharmD, BCOP Clinical Pharmacy Specialist – Hematology/BMT Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? • Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients with steroid-refractory gastrointestinal acute graft-versus-host disease (GI-GVHD) have poor outcomes. • There is no consensus for optimal treatment of these patients. • We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of tocilizumab, an interleukin-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of steroid-refractory GI-GVHD. • 10/11 (91%) patients achieved a complete response after a median time of 11 days (range, 2 – 18) from tocilizumab initiation. • The median time to response onset, defined as improvement in GVHD stage by at least 1, was 1 day (range, 1 – 6). • At a median follow-up of 3 months (range, 1.1 – 12.8) from tocilizumab initiation, 8 of 11 patients are alive and free of the their underlying hematologic malignancy. • No associations between serum levels of IL-6 and tocilizumab response could be identified. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 26.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Johnson, MD, PhD, MBA, FACS Thomas Jefferson University Dr. Cataldo Doria, senior author and designer of the study, emphasized that the work was a team effort MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The goal was to develop an algorithm to identify which donors would be most suitably transplanted as dual kidneys instead of as single kidneys. Dual kidney transplantation is a resource intensive procedure, but may make the most out of two kidneys whose function may be too marginal to transplant independently. Currently allocation decisions are based on individual surgeon and institutional experience and without much available outcome data. This score provide decision support for which donor grafts would have the greatest benefit if transplanted as dual kidneys. (more…)
Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Transplantation / 14.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Xavier Jouven Service de Cardiologie Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou Paris MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There are many cardiac arrests (around 300 000 per year in United States). The possibility to collect organs from a certain proportion of those cardiac arrests represents an important opportunity to fill the gap of the organ shortage. It is absolutely mandatory to identify patients with no chance of survival. This study showed 3 criteria which allow this early identification. Several thousands of patients die every year waiting for organ transplantation. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Transplantation / 12.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jaimin Trivedi, MD, MPH Instructor Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery University of Louisville Louisville, KY 40202 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Trivedi: There is a donor heart shortage in United States and certain donor hearts are likely to be turned down because the donors required cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) prior to procurement. The rationale behind conducting the study was to identify impact of donor CPR and its duration on recipient survival after transplantation. Our findings show that presence of CPR and duration of CPR does not adversely impact the post heart transplant survival. The study also shows that ejection fraction and peak cardiac troponins between the CPR and non-CPR donors were comparable at time of transplant suggesting recovery of cardiac function. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Kidney Disease, Transplantation, University of Pennsylvania / 22.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew Levine, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Transplant Surgery Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Levine: This work stemmed from a known finding that female mice tolerate kidney injury better than males and this is true of mice that share exactly the same genes.  Therefore, the gender difference was the driving factor.  My basic science laboratory works at the intersection between scientific discovery and clinical application and this led us to question whether the same phenomenon was true in humans and whether we could identify a way in which this could be used to improve injury tolerance above what is seen in untreated subjects.  What we found was that the hormonal environment seems to impact ischemia tolerance, with female environment being protective and the male environment worsening injury tolerance in ischemia models where blood flow is interrupted and then restored.  The kidneys seemed to adapt to take on the injury response of the host after transplantation, indicating that the differences were not forged into the kidney itself and therefore could be altered.  We then found that estrogen therapy improved kidney injury tolerance when given to female mice in advance of injury, but no effect was seen in male mice.  And most importantly, we found that in a large cohort of transplant recipients that female recipients had better injury tolerance after transplant than male recipients, as shown by ability to avoid dialysis in the first week after transplant, otherwise known as delayed graft function (DGF). This is a fairly major finding since it has not been observed in the literature despite several decades of transplant data being carefully studied. (more…)
Author Interviews, HPV, Kidney Disease, Transplantation, Vaccine Studies / 15.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Delphine Robotham MD Division of Pediatric Nephrology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, Maryland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and is almost entirely caused by high risk HPV genotypes.  Vaccines to high risk HPV genotypes have shown great success in protecting healthy women from the sequelae of infection, including cervical cancer and genital warts. Young women with a kidney transplant as well as those with chronic kidney disease have abnormal immune systems and as a result have a significantly increased burden of HPV-related disease making the potential health benefits of the HPV vaccine substantial in this particularly vulnerable population.  This study examined the immune response to the HPV vaccine among girls and young women with kidney disease. The goal of this research was to determine if girls and young women with chronic kidney disease (abnormal kidney function, on dialysis, or post kidney transplant) showed evidence of immune response to the quadrivalent HPV vaccine.  Immune response was determined by measuring the amount of antibody made by the patients against each of the 4 HPV genotypes included in the vaccine.  There are established thresholds of antibody above which patients are believed to have protection from infection.  We found that study participants with chronic kidney disease and those on dialysis had antibody levels above the threshold, indicating the vaccine should be effective in protecting them from HPV related disease.  A significant proportion of patients with kidney transplants showed evidence of inadequate antibody response.  This is important information as it means patients with a kidney transplant, whom we know are at increased risk of developing cervical cancer from HPV infection, may not be protected from HPV infections from the HPV genotypes included in the vaccine. (more…)
Author Interviews, Nature, Transplantation / 07.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, MD Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Program National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. Mohiuddin: There are around 150,000 patients waiting for organ transplants. Unfortunately, the supply of human donor organs will never be able to meet this demand. We are trying to explore if animal (pig) organs can be used for these patients. Pig organs are rejected within a few minutes by humans or baboons. Therefore, we along with our industrial partner Revivicor Inc. have modified the pig genetics to knock out molecules harmful to humans and have also expressed some human genes in these pigs. Through these modifications, along with the use of novel target-specific immunosuppressive drugs, we have extended pig heart survival in the abdomen for almost 3 years. In this experimental model, the heart is transplanted in the abdomen while the original heart stays in the chest cavity. The major advantage of this model is that the baboon is kept alive, despite the rejection of the transplanted organ in the abdomen. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Dermatology, Transplantation / 09.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Claire M. Vajdic, PhD Center for Big Data Research in Health University of New South Wales Australian Graduate School of Management Bldg, Sydney Australia on behalf of the authors. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Vajdic: Lip cancer is one of the most common cancers in solid organ transplant recipients. Iatrogenic immunosuppression is a strong risk factor for lip cancer but the dose-related association between individual immunosuppressive agents and risk of lip cancer has not been examined. Therefore, we investigated the association between the type, dose and duration of immunosuppressive therapy and lip cancer risk in Australian liver, heart and lung transplant recipients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Dermatology, JAMA, Melanoma, Transplantation / 20.01.2016

More on Dermatology from MedicalResearch.com  MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pritesh S. Karia, MPH Manager-Dermatologic Oncology Research Program Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery Center Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA 02130  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Several recent studies have shown a reduced incidence of skin cancer in organ transplant recipients (OTR) treated with sirolimus as first-time therapy and those converted from calcineurin inhibitors to sirolimus. Although cancer formation is one of the main reasons for conversion to sirolimus, studies examining the effect of sirolimus on the risk of subsequent cancer formation in organ transplant recipients who have already been diagnosed with a post-transplant cancer are limited. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, JAMA, Transplantation / 11.01.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sergio A. Acuna, MD Graduate Student at St. Michael's Hospital and IHPME University of Toronto Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Acuna: Solid organ transplant recipients are known to be at greater risk of developing cancers compared to the general population; however, because they are also at high increased risk of mortality from non-cancer causes, the risk of cancer morality in this population is unclear. As previous studies on this topic have reported disparate findings, the cancer mortality risk in this population remained uncertain. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Acuna: Our study provides conclusive evidence that solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of cancer mortality. Our findings demonstrate that solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of cancer death compared to the general population regardless of age, transplanted organ, and year of transplantation, and indicate cancer is a substantial cause of death in this population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, Mayo Clinic, Pulmonary Disease, Transplantation / 23.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cassie Kennedy, M.D. Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine Mayo Clinic  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Kennedy: Lung transplant is a surgical procedure that can offer extended life expectancy and improved quality of life to selected patients with end-stage lung disease. However there are about 1700 patients awaiting lung transplant at any given time in the United States because transplant recipients far exceed potential donors.  In addition, even with carefully chosen candidates, lung transplant recipients live on average about 5.5 years.  It is therefore very important for transplant physicians to choose patients who will receive the most benefit from their lung transplant. Frailty (defined as an increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes) has typically been a subjective consideration by transplant physicians when choosing lung transplant candidates.  The emergence of more objective and reproducible frailty measures from the geriatric literature present an opportunity to study the prevalence of frailty in lung transplant (despite that subjective screening) and to determine whether the presence of frailty has any impact on patient outcomes. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Kennedy: Frailty is quite common --46 percent of our patient cohort was frail by the Frailty Deficit Index. We also saw a significant association between frailty and worsened survival following lung transplantation: one-year survival rate for frail patients was 71.7 percent, compared to 92.9 percent for patients who were not frail. At three years this difference in survival persisted--the survival rate for frail patients was 41.3 percent, compared to 66.1 percent for patients who were not frail. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, Surgical Research, Transplantation, Weight Research / 17.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barry Schlansky, M.D., M.P.H Assistant Professor of Medicine Oregon Health & Science University Medical Research: What are the main findings and significance of this study? Dr. Schlansky: This study examines how obese patients fare before and after liver transplantation. Similar to other researchers, we found that obese patients do just as well as normal weight patients after liver transplantation. We were surprised, however, to find that very obese patients died more often while on the wait list before liver transplant. (more…)
Author Interviews, NYU, Surgical Research, Transplantation / 16.11.2015

Patrick Hardison was severely injured in September 2001 in Mississippi, while attempting to rescue a woman in a burning home. He had dozens of surgeries as he continued to try to work and care for his five children. These surgeries grafted skin from his legs onto his entire scalp and face. Mr. Hardison was referred to Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, of NYU Langone Medical Center for consideration of facial transplantation. Three months August 14, 2015 ago Dr. Rodriguez were able to give Patrick a new face, scalp, ears and ear canals, new eyelids and the muscles that control blinking.   (more…)
Author Interviews, Columbia, Heart Disease, JACC, Transplantation / 14.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Raymond Givens MD PhD  Columbia University Medical Center  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Givens: Multiple listing- i.e., simultaneous placement on multiple organ transplant waiting lists- is allowed by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Because insurance generally does not pay for the costs of transportation between multiple centers or of temporary housing, there has been concern that the multiple-listing policy gives an unfair advantage to wealthier patients. We examined the UNOS database from 2000-2013 and identified 33,928 patients who were listed for a first-time single-organ heart transplant, 2% of whom met our definition of multiple-listing. Compared to single-listed patients, multiple-listed patients lived in ZIP codes with significantly higher median incomes, and were more likely to have private insurance and less likely to be supported by Medicaid. They were also significantly more likely to have blood type O and to live in areas with higher predicted waiting times. Despite having lower listing priority at the start of the primary listing and lower predicted mortality, the multiple-listed patients were often upgraded at secondary listing and had a higher eventual transplant rate (74.4% vs 70.2%) and lower mortality rate while listed (8.1% vs 12.2%). When the multiple-listed cohort was compared against a propensity-score-matched single-listed subset the relative rare of transplant was 3.02. There were no differences in post-transplant survival. (more…)
Author Interviews, Kidney Disease, Transplantation / 10.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sumit Mohan, MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology Director, Transplant Outcomes Research at CUMC Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine Columbia University Medical Center   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mohan: Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for End Stage Renal Disease but transplantation access is limited in part to the scarcity of organs in the United States. Despite this, currently 17% of all kidneys that are procured in the United States for transplant are discarded - a number that has been steadily increasing. The reasons for the discard of these kidneys is poorly understood and urgently needs to be studied. (more…)