CTOAD (Cardiothoracic Transplant Outcome Assessment Using dd-cfDNA)
Cardiothoracic Transplant Outcome Assessment Using dd-cfDNA
- Hospital – Speciality: Cardiothoracic Transplant team, Wythenshawe Hospital and Transplantation Laboratory, MRI
- Study type: Human Tissue samples
- Funder: NHS England
Summary
Monitoring the rejection and injury status of the heart is an important part of post-transplant therapy. Heart transplant recipients have 14 endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) in the first 2 years post-transplant. EMB is the gold standard method of monitoring the heart post-transplant, but it is an expensive and invasive procedure that only identifies rejection in 5-20% of tests. There is evidence to show that donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA), a non-invasive test of heart transplant injury, correlates with EMB results.
This is a feasibility study that will assess the clinical utility of using dd-cfDNA as a marker of heart transplant injury. The study will measure the amount of dd-cfDNA in the plasma of heart transplant recipients at this centre. The results will be compared to the results of EMB and donor specific antibody screening to determine if dd-cfDNA is a reliable marker of heart transplant injury. This study aims to prove that dd-cfDNA can identify heart transplant injury so that patients can have a dd-cfDNA test to reduce the number of unnecessary EMB.
Participant group
Heart Transplant patients
Participant approach
Participants will be identified by the research team through post transplant follow up clinics
Study open date and expected length
Opened: July 2025
Expected end date: July 2027
Results
Pending – this study is still active.
Contact details
Email address: natalia.diazburlinson@mft.nhs.uk
- IRAS number: 342271
