This message contains images. If you don't see images, click here to view. Click here to advertise in this news brief. Mobile version  RSS  Subscribe  Unsubscribe  Archive  Media Kit Home   About AST   Education   Meetings & Events   Public Policy   Contact Us   Feb. 21, 2013   Late onset cytomegalovirus in lung transplant recipients: Can cmv serostatus guide the duration of prophylaxis? American Journal of Transplantation (subscription required)    Share    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. More PRESIDENT'S CORNER Roslyn Mannon, MD Two New AST Supported Bills Introduced In her latest blog post, Dr. Roslyn Mannon discusses two AST supported bills that were recently introduced in the House and Senate: the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act and the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act. Read the blog post and contact your Members of Congress to ask them for their support of these two important bills.  SOCIETY NEWS Live webinars March 6 and 13 — free to AST members AST    Share    Register today for either of these two live webinars; participate at the scheduled date and time or view the archives later on. "Meeting the Challenges of Resistance" airs at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 6 as part of the Timely Topics in Transplantation webinar series. "A Primer on Optimizing an Organ Transplant Program's Financial Statement" airs at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 13 as part of the Business of Transplantation webinar series. Both webinars are free for AST members and available for non-members for a fee. C1qScreen™: A New Research Tool for AMR Risk Identify Antibodies That May Compromise Graft Survival Detect Presence of Complement Fixing Antibodies Investigate risk of developing Antibody Mediated Rejection (AMR) Request a Complimentary Sample Kit! FREE SAMPLE For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.  COP CORNER COP Executive Committee call for nominations reminder AST    Share    Nominations are now being taken for executive committee open positions in 10 Communities of Practice (COPs). The deadline to submit nominations is Feb. 22. To nominate yourself or a fellow colleague, you (the nominator) and the nominee must both be a member of that specific COP. Nominees must be an AST member in good standing. If you need to verify your or the nominee's COP membership, please feel free to contact Jason Polinsky at jpolinsky@ahint.com with your membership verification request. To submit a nomination, simply follow the links to forms for the co-chair positions and committee member-at-large positions.   PRODUCT SHOWCASES Astellas Pharma US, Inc. Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a U.S. affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to changing tomorrow by improving the health of people around the world through innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information about Astellas Pharma US, Inc., please visit our Web site at www.astellas.us WAVES by Waters Medical Systems ✓ Hypothermic preservation of a single kidney using physiologic pulsatile preservation and membrane oxygenation: a proven technology from Waters Medical Systems (more than 40 years clinical experience) ✓ Simplifies the perfusion process (provides more options to view, chart, and trend data, offers web-based remote monitoring, and a transportable design) ✓ Meets or exceeds current FDA standards and AOPO and UNOS Preservation Guidelines. MNX: Organ Transportation When it comes to saving lives, MNX understands organ transplant logistics. Every shipment is urgent, and every step critical. That’s why MNX offers specialty services that are tailored for organ transportation. From expedited ground service to charter flights, MNX has the proven experience and operational resources you can count on.  TRANSPLANT NEWS Platelet count predictive of mortality in patients awaiting liver transplant Healio    Share    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. More Non-invasive biomarkers to guide management following renal transplantation: The need for a multiplatform approach Current Opinion on Organ Transplantation (subscription required)    Share    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. More FDA approves Zortress to prevent liver transplant rejection Healio    Share    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. More   FEATURED COMPANIES Put Science on Your Side Drug Monitoring Platforms since 1981. Learn More Exclusively Focused Transplant Pharmacy Therapeutics Transplant IV Biologics and Oral Immunosuppressives specializing in Desensitization and AMR Treatment and Prevention. MORE Low-dose steroids associated with milder histological changes after pediatric liver transplantation Liver Transplantation (subscription required)    Share    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. More Aggressive lung donor management increases graft procurement without increasing renal graft loss after transplantation Clinical Transplantation    Share    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. More Cardiovascular events in kidney transplant patients linked to cytomegalovirus Renal & Urology News    Share    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. More Donor risk factors, retrieval technique, preservation and ischemia/reperfusion injury in pancreas transplantation Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation (subscription required)    Share    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. More   AST eNews Colby Horton, Vice President of Publishing, 469.420.2601 Download media kit Courtney Hodges, Content Editor, 972.402.2604    Contribute news This edition of the AST eNews was sent to ##Email##. To unsubscribe, click here. Recent issues Feb. 14, 2013 Feb. 7, 2013 Jan. 31, 2013 Jan. 24, 2013 7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063