This study is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a leukocyte gene expression profiling method in the monitoring of asymptomatic heart transplant patients for acute rejection.
Cardiac allograft rejection is experienced by 20-50% of patients at least once during the first year after cardiac transplantation under the present immunosuppression regimens. With a higher incidence of acute cellular rejection (ACR) in the first six months post-transplant, ACR continues to occur beyond the first year post-transplant. However, the optimal strategy for detecting rejection during this period of lower risk period for ACR is still controversial. The standard for rejection surveillance has been the endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). However, EMB is invasive, causes morbidity, and is subject to sampling error and inter-observer variability. Gene expression profiling (GEP), with its high negative predictive value (NPV) for acute cellular rejection (ACR), appears to be well suited to identify low-risk patients who can be safely managed without routine invasive endomyocardial biopsy (EMB).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
629
VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Palo Alto, California, United States
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford, California, United States
Northwestern University
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Time from study enrollment to the earliest date of decrease in left ventricle function (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] decrease ≥ 25% from baseline)
Time from study enrollment to the development of clinically overt rejection (heart failure, hemodynamic compromise)
Time from study enrollment to death from any cause
Number of deaths and cause of death
Number of biopsies planned and performed
Time to and number of biopsy-related complications, including bleeding, perforation and tamponade requiring pericardiocentesis, worsening of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) by 1 grade above 2+ or new TR at least 3+ or greater
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University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Mid America Heart Institute - St. Luke's Hospital
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Barnes Jewish Hospital - Washington University
St Louis, Missouri, United States
Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
Newark, New Jersey, United States
Columbia University Medical Center - New York Presbyterian Hospital
New York, New York, United States
The Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
...and 3 more locations