Clinical Research Directory

AlloSure Lung Assessment and Metagenomics Outcomes Study

ALAMO is a prospective, multi-center, perspective, registry of patients receiving LungCare™ (AlloSure®-Lung, AlloMap Lung, and HistoMap) for surveillance post-transplant. This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance characteristics of AlloSure Lung (dd-cfDNA) to detect a spectrum of rejection (ACR, AMR) and allograft infection (Bacterial, Viral, Fungal, Mycobacterial, Parasitic).

Association Between Renal Regional Oxygen Saturation Measured by Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy and Postoperative Renal Failure After Lung Transplantation Surgery: A Pilot Study

Complications after lung transplantation are almost ubiquitous, among which postoperative acute renal failure may represent more than 50% of lung transplant patients and require extrarenal purification in 5 to 13% of cases. Multiple factors are associated with postoperative acute renal failure. These factors can be classified into preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors. While some postoperative complications are explained by donor and recipient factors, the literature suggests that certain intraoperative events represent modifiable or avoidable risk factors that could be targeted by therapeutic interventions to reduce the risk of postoperative acute renal failure. Some of these factors (intraoperative hemodynamic instability, significant bleeding or hypoxemia) can generate renal hypoxic aggression, alone or in combination. However, to date, there is no validated tool available at the patient's bedside during surgery to detect renal hypoxia or guide interventions to restore renal perfusion during surgery. Yet, as recent recommendations suggest, intraoperative renal protection is an important axis for improving the outcome of lung transplant patients, to the extent that the recommendations of Marczin et al. recommend the establishment of a renal prevention protocol for each patient. Without a tool to guide this plan intraoperatively, anesthesia teams can't establish a renal prevention protocol. This research aims to establish whether renal NIRS is a reliable tool for monitoring intraoperative renal hypoxic aggression predictive of postoperative renal failure. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an optical technology that allows non-invasive measurement of tissue oxygen saturation. This technique is commonly used for intraoperative monitoring of cerebral perfusion in adults and children. Some studies have shown that regional renal oxygen saturation (renal rSO2) measured by NIRS during aortic-coronary bypass surgery under extracorporeal circulation (ECC) is correlated with renal venous oxygen saturation measured by catheterization. It is also associated with the risk of postoperative acute renal failure in patients undergoing cardiac surgery under ECC. However, there are no equivalent data in lung transplant patients, who frequently present with postoperative acute renal failure. In the available literature, no clear threshold of renal desaturation has been established. Because it is assumed that the depth of renal desaturation can be particularly deleterious, in addition to desaturation time, the investigator have chosen to retain in this project the integral of time and magnitude spent under a renal desaturation threshold, aggregated into a renal hypoxia index, during the intraoperative period. The primary objective of this research is to demonstrate the usefulness of measuring the intraoperative renal hypoxia index in predicting the risk of early postoperative acute renal failure

RENAL: TNF-alpha Inhibitor for Improving Renal Dysfunction and Primary Graft Dysfunction After Lung Transplant

The purpose of this study is to assess whether TNFa antibody use before lung transplant can prevent kidney injury after lung transplant.

CMV Immunity Monitoring in Lung Transplant Recipients

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and feasibility of using a laboratory test to guide duration of antiviral prophylaxis with valganciclovir (medication used to prevent viral infections) after lung transplant. The laboratory test, inSIGHT™ CMV T Cell Immunity Panel, measures patients' immune response to a common viral infection known as cytomegalovirus (CMV). The goal of this study will be to safely decrease how long patients need to take valganciclovir based on the results of the CMV T Cell Immunity Panel.

Implementation of a Clinical Tool to Improve Waitlist Mortality in Patients With Cystic Fibrosis

Implementation of a Clinical Tool to Improve Waitlist Mortality in Patients With Cystic Fibrosis

Prospective Multicenter Research on Donor and Recipient Management Strategies to Improve Lung Transplant Outcomes

This project aims to collect detailed clinical data, blood samples, and patient-reported outcomes from 2,600 lung transplant candidates, donors, and recipients at Lung Transplant Centers. The goal is to create a robust resource for various research objectives, including studying the impact of variations in donor and medical practices on clinical outcomes. The project also seeks to identify serum biomarkers associated with or predictive of specific post-transplant complications and conditions.

Inspiratory Work of Breathing Before and After Extubation

Critically ill patients who (1) are not able to maintain their airway, (2) cannot breathe on their own, or (3) both, are ones who often require tracheal intubation and support from a breathing machine (mechanical ventilator). When the patient is ready to be liberated from the mechanical ventilator because the initial insult for intubation has been resolved, the patient is screened using the readiness to wean test in preparation for extubation. As the patient passes this screening, a spontaneous breathing test (SBT) is initiated. Currently, there are many debates surrounding which SBT technique is most favorable. At Toronto General Hospital, the clinical team uses a zero-end expiratory pressure (ZEEP) trial. Once the patient successfully passes their SBT they are then extubated. The patient will undergo a spontaneous breathing trial of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) of 5 cmH2O and ZEEP, in which time the investigators will be using a new technology called electrical impedance tomography (EIT), to study and compare the end expiratory lung volume (EELV); investigators will use an esophageal catheter to measure and monitor pressures in the lung, and also assess the patient's work of breathing. This will be repeated once the patient has been extubated safely.

Early Use of Long-acting Tacrolimus in Lung Transplant Recipients

Lung transplantation is a life-saving therapy for patients with advanced lung disease, however, necessitates the use of life-long immunosuppressive therapy for the prevention of acute and chronic rejection. The backbone of immunosuppression is the calcineurin-inhibitor class, with tacrolimus being the preferred drug due to its potency and improved side-effect profile. Nevertheless, tacrolimus is associated with several side effects including increased risk for infection and malignancy, tremors, headaches, seizures, hypertension, leukopenia and renal dysfunction. In fact, by 6 months post-transplant, 50% of patients will have a 50% decline in eGFR and by 5 years post-transplant \~10% of patients will have advanced renal disease that may require renal replacement therapy and/or kidney transplantation. Tacrolimus induces a nephropathy in two ways- acute calcineurin inhibitor nephrotoxicity (CIN) is mediated by afferent arteriolar vasoconstriction, whereas chronic CIN is due to interstitial nephritis and fibrosis. Immunosuppressive regimens that spare or dose-reduce calcineurin inhibitors have been shown to have a modest impact on preserving renal function, but are limited by timing. Although most studies support implementing renal preserving protocols early on, this is balanced by the potential for acute cellular rejection, antibody mediated rejection and anastomotic dehiscence. Long-acting Tacrolimus (LCP-tacrolimus) may have the potential to bridge the balance of providing potent immunosuppression, while sparing renal function, due to the better systemic dose levels and improved concentration/dose ration achieved with it compared to IR-tacrolimus, evidenced in the renal transplant population. There is limited experience with LCP-tacrolimus in lung transplantation. Several case reports chronicling the late conversion from IR-tacrolimus to LCP-tacrolimus due to absorption issues or side-effect intolerance, have demonstrated safety and tolerability. The investigators seek to determine whether early use of LCP-tacrolimus in lung transplant recipients following the index hospitalization is acceptable, and propose a single-center prospective, randomized, controlled pilot study of early-use LCP-tacrolimus in lung transplant recipients to assess safety, tolerability and side-effects of LCP-tacrolimus.

An Evaluation of Remote Care (questionnaire+hybrid) in Patients Who Are Post-lung Transplant

Lung transplantation is used to treat patients with lung damage when there is no other treatment option. Patients require close monitoring following their transplant, with hospital check-ups every 3-4 months usually lasting all day. Although check-ups often result in no change to patient management they are essential as patients have better outcomes if complications are detected quickly. The aim is to explore whether remote monitoring via an app (patientMpower) ± questionnaire (specifically designed to assess post-transplant patients' health), linked to a device to measure lung function, could replace some check-ups for lung transplant patients. Patients will be randomised to receive either normal care or remote monitoring (i.e. their symptoms will be evaluated using home spirometry combined with a questionnaire). 100 lung transplant recipients will be enrolled with 50 patients being assigned to either group. Health outcomes and costs of care between the two groups will be compared

HHV8 and Solid Organ Transplantation

Solid organ transplant candidates will undergo serological screening for HHV8 at time of listing and transplantation. In the event of a recipient/donor mismatch R-/D+ or in the presence of a seropositive recipient (R+), blood levels of HHV8 DNA will be monitored together with specific IGRA for HHV8.

Cytokine Filtration in Lung Transplantation: A Swedish National Study (GLUSorb)

Lung transplantation (LTx) remains the gold standard for treating patients with irreversible end-stage pulmonary disease. Of the major organs transplanted, survival in LTx recipients remains the lowest (mean 5 years). Despite improvements, primary graft dysfunction (PGD), as defined by respiratory insufficiency and edema up to 72 hours post LTx, remains the leading cause of early mortality and contributes to the development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) which is the leading cause of late mortality. PGD develops within the first 72 hours after LTx. The development of CLAD increases quickly with cumulative incidence of 40-80 % within the first 3-5 years. There is a general lack of efficient treatments for PGD and CLAD. Prevention of PGD is therefore of crucial importance and has a direct impact on survival. The present study is a randomized controlled study which aims to compare patients undergoing LTx with and without the utilization of cytokine adsorption.

Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Transplant Dysfunction in the Context of Lung Transplantation

Transplant results vary considerably from one organ to another. Lung transplantation has poorer long-term outcomes than other solid organ transplants, with a current median post-transplant survival of 6.0 years. Allograft rejection remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in all organ groups and is the leading cause of death, accounting for more than 40% of deaths beyond the first year after lung transplantation. Each dysfunctions impacts the fate of the graft and therefore the survival of the recipient. Their early and precise diagnosis is therefore a major issue. The identification of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these different subtypes of dysfunction (transcriptomics, polymorphism of target genes of the immune system or tissue repair, cell phenotyping) is an essential step. It can only be done on the basis of a collection of samples linked to a clinical database allowing to contextualize each sample.