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Aug. 14, 2020

SOCIETY NEWS

COVID-19 Changes: Upcoming Adjustments to Transplant Program and OPO Evaluation Metrics

SRTR

The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), under contract from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is charged with evaluating the performance of the nation’s transplant system through publication of semi-annual transplant program-specific reports (PSRs) and organ procurement organization (OPO)-specific reports (OSRs). These reports contain performance metrics covering various time periods. For OPOs, these metrics include eligible death conversion rates and deceased donor organ yield. For transplant programs, they include waitlist mortality rates, transplant rates, organ offer acceptance rates, patient mortality after listing, and 1-month, 1-year, and 3-year posttransplant outcomes including graft survival and patient survival.

In light of the current global pandemic, SRTR will be modifying the evaluation metrics for transplant programs and OPOs.

The AST Appreciates Your Feedback!

AST

Thank you to the more than 700 members who completed the Membership Value and Dues Survey! The final five members chosen for the $50 gift card incentives were: Sorabh Kapoor, Michael Koerner, Camille Kotton, Brigette Marciniak-Bednar, and Amy Sherman. Congratulations!

SPONSORED CONTENT

Promoted by Natera

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Natera Announces New Prospera Data at ATC Showcasing Innovation in Cell-free DNA

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Natera's ProReach Program: Remote care for Prospera patients including routine labs

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Natera receives final Medicare Coverage for Prospera transplant assessment test

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New ProActive Registry: largest clinical utility study evaluating Prospera in >3,000 kidney transplant patients

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Global, prospective multicenter study evaluating MMDx and Prospera under the leadership of Dr. Philip Halloran is now enrolling

FAQs Regarding Return to School for Children after SOT in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

AST

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created many questions about returning to school for pediatric solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients and their families. While the risk of getting COVID-19 in school will never be zero when COVID-19 cases are present in a community, a team of pediatric transplant infectious diseases experts has provided information to help families make decisions with their transplant teams about school attendance for their child who has received a liver, lung, kidney, heart, or pancreas transplant. These recommendations were developed jointly by a number of medical organizations, including the AST, and are focused on K-12th grade.

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Refer 3 New Members — Receive Free AST Membership

AST

Congratulations to the 114 committed members who participated in the 2019-2020 Member-Get-a-Member Referral program. The 2020-2021 program has just launched! All members who successfully recruit 3 new members will receive 1 year of membership free! In addition, you will be entered into the yearly prize drawing, which includes an iPad or AST bucks.

We're making it easy for you to refer new members with our referral form. You can quickly send a personal and professional email message to refer your colleagues.

Spread the word! Recommend colleagues for membership and earn rewards! Visit the Member-Get-A-Member page for program details and other resources.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

COVID-19 Information for Professionals and Patients

AST

Recently updated, the AST has published FAQ pages and other resources for both professionals and patients.

The updated patient COVID FAQs in English can be found HERE.
The updated patient COVID FAQ's in Spanish can be found HERE.
The updated Recommendations and Guidance for Organ Donor Testing document can be found HERE.
Also, updated FAQs on medication access and Rx shortage can be found HERE.

Check out a full list of COVID-19 resources HERE.

UPCOMING EDUCATION EVENTS

Cytomegalovirus Serologic Matching in Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation Optimizes High‐ and Low‐risk (D+R− and D−R−) Profiles and Does Not Adversely Affect Transplant Rates

AST

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 25, 2020, from 2:00 PM ET to 3:00 PM ET.
Hosted by: The AST Infectious Disease Community of Practice (IDCOP)

FEATURED ARTICLE

Support specialists for kidney transplantation

Promoted by Veloxis Pharmaceuticals

Did you know there’s a transplant support system to help patients and providers with best-in-class assistance and resources? This ongoing support system assists with benefit investigation, prior authorization assistance, coordination with specialty pharmacies, prescription fulfillment navigation, and CoverMyMeds® access. There’s also a $0 co-pay card to overcome financial barriers.

Find out more

Timely Topics in Transplantation Webinars On-Demand

AST

The 2019-2020 Timely Topics in Transplantation (T3) webinar series is available on-demand! Watch expert faculty present on a variety of important topics in transplantation, including "Advanced Technology in Transplant Care," "Non-invasive Biomarkers for Allograft Rejection," and "HCV NAT+/- in Solid Organ Transplantation."

TRANSPLANT NEWS

In‐depth Virological Assessment of Kidney Transplant Recipients with COVID‐19

American Journal of Transplantation

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) has spread widely, causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) and significant mortality. However, data on viral loads and antibody kinetics in immunocompromised populations are lacking. We aimed to determine nasopharyngeal and plasma viral loads via RT‐PCR and SARS‐CoV‐2 serology via ELISA and study their association with severe forms of COVID‐19 and death in kidney transplant recipients.

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Thousands of meeting planners and other industry professionals subscribe to AST's e-News, which allows your company to push messaging directly to their inboxes and take advantage of the association's brand affinity.

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Now offering Mobile Phlebotomy

Labs@HOME is a mobile phlebotomy in-home blood draw service to aid in specimen collection directly from a patient's home. Clinicians can order and customize a number of infectious disease and transplant-relatedtesting remotely

LEARN MORE

COVID‐19 in Lung Transplant Recipients: A Single Center Case Series from New York City

American Journal of Transplantation

There are limited data describing COVID‐19 in lung transplant recipients. We performed a single center, retrospective case series study of lung transplant patients followed by the Columbia Lung Transplant program who tested positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 between March 19‐May 19, 2020. 32 lung transplant patients developed mild (16%), moderate (44%), or severe (41%) COVID‐19.

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

Harnessing Expressed Single Nucleotide Variation and Single Cell RNA Sequencing To Define Immune Cell Chimerism in the Rejecting Kidney Transplant

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

The combination of exome sequencing with single-cell RNA sequencing can reveal the recipient versus donor origin of each immune cell within human kidney allografts. This approach greatly improves upon previous techniques used to identify and describe leukocyte chimerism within a complex organ, such as Y chromosome identification for sex-mismatched transplants.

Eplet Mismatch Load and De Novo Occurrence of Donor-Specific Anti-HLA Antibodies, Rejection, and Graft Failure after Kidney Transplantation: An Observational Cohort Study

Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

HLA matching for three HLA loci (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR) at a low-resolution antigen level has been integral to algorithms for allocating donor kidneys for transplant since the 1970s. The authors used high-resolution genotyping of the 11 HLA loci and analysis of mismatches of HLA eplets—small patches of surface-exposed amino acids of the HLA molecule—to evaluate the effect of eplet mismatches on de novo formation of donor-specific HLA antibodies (DSAs) and kidney transplant outcome.

The International Thoracic Organ Transplant Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: 37th adult lung transplantation report — 2020; focus on deceased donor characteristics

The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation

Almost 70,000 adult lung transplant procedures have been reported to the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) International Thoracic Organ Transplant (TTX) Registry since its inception, each one the result of the selfless kindness of a grieving donor family. With each year's report, we provide more detailed analyses on a particular focus theme important to recipient outcomes.

AST eNews

Connect with AST

Dennis Hall, Director of Publishing, 469-420-2656 | Download media kit

American Society of Transplantation
1120 Route 73, Suite 200 | Mount Laurel, NJ, 08054 | 856-439-9986 | Contact Us

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