UHN Researchers publish ground breaking clinical trial in lung transplantation

Paradigm shift in lung preservation could increase donor organs and change practice worldwide

2023-04-20

(Press-News.org) (Toronto, April 20, 2023) Storing donor lungs for transplant at 10 degrees Celsius markedly increases the length of time the organ can live outside the body according to research led by a team of scientists at the Toronto Lung Transplant Program in the Ajmera Transplant Centre at the University Health Network (UHN).

The prospective multicenter, nonrandomized clinical trial study of 70 patients demonstrated that donor lungs remained healthy and viable for transplant up to four times longer compared to storage at the current standard of ice cooler preservation of around 4 degrees Celsius.

“The clinical impact of this study is huge. It’s a paradigm shift for the practice of lung transplant.”, says lead author Dr. Marcelo Cypel, Surgical Director of the Ajmera Transplant Centre and a surgeon within the Sprott Department of Surgery at UHN.

“I have no doubt that this will become the gold standard practice of lung preservation for the foreseeable future.”

Lungs available for transplant are currently limited by the length of time a donor organ can be kept viable. Increasing storage time allows for viable donor lungs to come from greater distances, increasing the potential for greater numbers of lungs becoming available for transplant and overcoming many of the hurdles around transplant logistics.

“In transplant, we still see a critical shortage of organs and people dying on the waitlist because there are not enough lungs to be transplanted.”, says Dr. Cypel, who is also a Professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery at U of T.

“It’s a great accomplishment to see that our research is now having an impact, and that we can actually have more cases done at our centre, with continued outstanding clinical results. Better organ preservation also means better outcomes for patients.”

Results of the trial were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine Evidence: https://doi.org/10.1056/EVIDoa2300008

The trial took place over 18 months at UHN’s Toronto General Hospital, the Medical University of Vienna, and Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda in Madrid.

"The ability to extend the lifespan of the donor organ poses several advantages. Ultimately, these advantages will allow for more lungs to be utilized across farther geographies and the ability to improve recipient outcomes by converting lung transplantation into a planned rather than urgent procedure.”, says study first author Dr. Aadil Ali, Adjunct Scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute.

Some advantages of this new 10 degrees Celsius standard for lung storage include the potential to reduce or eliminate the 24/7 schedule and urgency of lung transplant procedures. By increasing the length of time donor lungs are viable, transplant surgeries could become planned procedures, which avoids bumping scheduled surgeries and overnight transplantation. This advancement on practice comes at a critical time when hospital resources are stretched and there are increased surgical backlogs due to the pandemic.

The study also suggests the new preservation temperature will allow more time to optimize immunologic matching between donor and recipients, and the possibility of performing lung transplantation in a semi-elective rather than urgent fashion.

For more on the study watch Dr. Cypel's presentation of findings at a recent American Association for Thoracic Surgery event: 165. Extending… | The American Association for Thoracic Surgery | AATS.

Also, watch a video with Drs. Cypel and Ali discussing the foundational work that led to this breakthrough: The Future Now: Two Studies Offer a Sneak Peek into the Future of Organ Transplantation - YouTube.

The UHN-led international study was funded by the UHN Foundation.

Clinicaltrials.gov number, NCT04616365

About University Health Network

University Health Network consists of Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute of Education at UHN. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. University Health Network is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. For more information: https://www.uhn.ca/

Media Contacts:

Christian Cote’ Christian.cote@uhn.ca

Catherine Danko Catherine.danko@uhn.ca

About UHN Foundation

Part of University Health Network (UHN), UHN Foundation raises funds for research, education and the enhancement of patient care at Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, Toronto Rehab and The Michener Institute of Education at UHN. With donor support, UHN Foundation is helping UHN pursue new knowledge to build a healthier world. For further information:

Media contact: Lisa Arai, Director, Brand Marketing, UHN Foundation, 416-278-6737, lisa.arai@uhn.ca

- 30 -

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Turkey’s next quake: USC research shows where, how bad — but not ‘when’

2023-04-20

Researchers know a lot about Turkey’s next major earthquake. They can pinpoint the probable epicenter, estimate its strength and see the spatial footprint of where damage is most likely to occur. They just can’t say when it will happen. That’s the main takeaway from a new USC-led study that appears today (April 20) in Seismica. Using remote sensing, USC geophysicist Sylvain Barbot and his fellow researchers documented the massive Feb. 6 quake that killed more than 50,000 people in Eastern Turkey and toppled more than 100,000 buildings. Alarmingly, researchers found that a section of the fault remains unbroken and locked – a sign that the plates there ...

Astrocyte dysfunction causes cognitive decline

2023-04-20

People with dementia have protein build-up in astrocytes that may trigger abnormal antiviral activity and memory loss, according to a preclinical study by a team of Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. Dysfunction in cells called neurons, which transmit messages throughout the brain, has long been the prime suspect in dementia-related cognitive deficits. But a new study, published in Science Advances on April 19, suggests that abnormal immune activity in non-neuronal brain cells called astrocytes is sufficient to cause cognitive deficits in dementia. The discovery could lead to new treatments that reduce excess immune activity in astrocytes and their detrimental effects on other brain ...

UC Irvine biologists discover bees to be brew masters of the insect world

2023-04-20

Irvine, Calif., April 20, 2023 — Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have made a remarkable discovery about cellophane bees – their microbiomes are some of the most fermentative known from the insect world. These bees, which are named for their use of cellophane-like materials to line their subterranean nests, are known for their fascinating behaviors and their important ecological roles as pollinators. Now, researchers have uncovered another aspect of their biology that makes them even more intriguing. According to a study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, cellophane ...

Sugar rush: scientists discover key role of glucose in brain activity

2023-04-20

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—April 18, 2023—The human brain has a sweet tooth, burning through nearly one quarter of the body’s sugar energy, or glucose, each day. Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shed new light on exactly how neurons—the cells that send electrical signals through the brain—consume and metabolize glucose, as well as how these cells adapt to glucose shortages. Previously, scientists had suspected that much of the glucose used by the brain was metabolized by other brain cells called ...

New study finds shifting climate regions leading to hotter, drier conditions across Kenya

2023-04-20

ST. LOUIS – Research published in Regional Environmental Change has shown that as climate zones shift toward hotter and drier conditions, ecological diversity will decline, posing a major threat to terrestrial ecosystems with far-reaching social and ecological impacts. The study, “Shifting climate zones and expanding tropical and arid climate regions across Kenya (1980-2020),” was published online on April 5. The research team analyzed Kenya's geographic distribution and arrangement of ...

Using solar farms to generate fresh desert soil crust

2023-04-20

In the arid regions of the American Southwest, an unseen world lies beneath our feet. Biocrusts, or biological soil crusts, are communities of living organisms. These industrious microbes include cyanobacteria, green algae, fungi, lichens, and mosses, forming a thin layer on the surface of soils in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Biocrusts play a crucial role in maintaining soil health and ecosystem sustainability, but they are currently under assault. Human activities including agriculture, urbanization, and off-road ...

COVID-19 pandemic saw major increase in children and adolescents attempting suicide by poison, study finds

2023-04-20

The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among children and adolescents ages 10-19 reported to U.S. poison centers increased 30% during 2021 – the COVID-19 pandemic’s first full year – compared with 2019, a new UVA Health study found. The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among children ages 10-12 increased 73% during 2021 compared with 2019. Among adolescents ages 13-15, the rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning increased 48.8% in 2021 versus 2019. The rate of suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among females ages 10-19 increased 36.8% in 2021 compared with 2019. The findings ...

Pairing up: the impact of treating alcohol use disorder and PTSD together

2023-04-20

A collaborative multi-site randomized controlled trial at the University of Houston and the Medical University of South Carolina is set to prove the effectiveness of treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) together. It’s a one-two punch whose time has come. No integrative treatment combining Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for PTSD and relapse prevention (RP) for AUD currently exists. “A substantial proportion of individuals with AUD also meet criteria for PTSD. The co-occurrence of AUD/PTSD is characterized by more severe symptomatology, greater functional impairment, ...

IU cancer researchers identify new target for breast cancer therapy

2023-04-20

INDIANAPOLIS—While trying to understand what initiates breast cells to become cancerous, researchers at the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a new target for breast cancer treatment. “When comparing healthy breast tissue and cancerous cells, we wanted to find out what is the earliest genomic change that happens to initiate the cancer,” said Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD, the Marian J. Morrison professor of breast cancer research ...

Hungry eyes: Spiders lose vision when they're starving

2023-04-20

Biologists at the University of Cincinnati discovered that underfed jumping spiders lose light-sensitive cells that are key to their vision. UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Elke Buschbeck and her co-authors studied photoreceptors in the eyes of bold jumping spiders, tiny eight-legged predators found across North America. The little hunters rely on their keen vision to stalk prey. But researchers found that underfed spiders begin to lose photoreceptors that give them such good eyesight. Their findings could improve our understanding of ...

UHN Researchers publish ground breaking clinical trial in lung transplantation

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: