Clinical manifestations and outcomes of coronavirus disease-19 in heart transplant recipients: a multicentre case series with a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Available data on clinical presentation and mortality of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in heart transplant (HT) recipients remain limited. We report a case series of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in 39 HT recipients from 3 French heart transplant centres (mean age 54.4 ± 14.8 years; 66.7% males). Hospital admission was required for 35 (89.7%) cases including 14/39 (35.9%) cases being admitted in intensive care unit. Immunosuppressive medications were reduced or discontinued in 74.4% of the patients. After a median follow-up of 54 (19-80) days, death and death or need for mechanical ventilation occurred in 25.6% and 33.3% of patients, respectively. Elevated C-reactive protein and lung involvement ≥50% on chest computed tomography (CT) at admission were associated with an increased risk of death or need for mechanical ventilation. Mortality rate from March to June in the entire 3-centre HT recipient cohort was 56% higher in 2020 compared to the time-matched 2019 cohort (2% vs. 1.28%, P = 0.15). In a meta-analysis including 4 studies, pre-existing diabetes mellitus (OR 3.60, 95% CI 1.43-9.06, I2  = 0%, P = 0.006) and chronic kidney disease stage III or higher (OR 3.79, 95% CI 1.39-10.31, I2  = 0%, P = 0.009) were associated with increased mortality. These findings highlight the aggressive clinical course of COVID-19 in HT recipients.

Association between cytomegalovirus infection and allograft rejection in a large contemporary cohort of heart transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection remains a common complication after heart transplantation (HTx). The association between CMV infection and allograft rejection is debated in the era of efficient prophylactic antiviral therapies. METHODS: This single-center cohort study utilized a highly phenotyped database of HTx recipients (2012-2016). The primary endpoint was the analysis of the association between CMV infection (CMV load ≥ 500 IU/mL whole blood) and the risk of allograft rejection (cellular rejection ≥ 1R1B, antibody-mediated rejection ≥ pAMR1). Secondary endpoints included the analysis of a higher CMV load threshold (≥10 000 IU/mL) and different risk periods after PCR positivity. A mixed-effect logistic regression model with a random intercept was applied. Results were adjusted for important risk factors of rejection. RESULTS: Overall, 384 patients were included and 6388 CMV loads and 3,494 endomyocardial biopsies were analyzed. CMV infections ≥ 500 IU/mL were diagnosed on 1223 (19.2%) blood samples from 284 (72.1%) patients and allograft rejections on 246 biopsies (7%) from 149 patients (38.8%). We did not find any association between CMV infection ≥ 500 IU/mL and rejection (univariable: OR 0.94, 95% CI [0.61, 1.45], P = .78, multivariable: OR 0.86, 95% CI [0.55, 1.33], P = .85). These results were consistent when analyzing a higher CMV load threshold and different periods of risk, reinforced by internal validation procedures and a posteriori calculation of the power (primary endpoint: power = 0.82, 95% CI [0.79-0.84]) and reproducible across different clinical scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: CMV infection was not associated with an increased risk of rejection in a contemporary cohort of HTx recipients.

Practical application of the French two-score heart allocation scheme: Insights from a high-volume heart transplantation centre.

BACKGROUND: In 2018, a cardiac allocation scheme based on an individual score considering the risk of death both on the waitlist and after heart transplantation was implemented in France. AIMS: To analyse the practical application of the pre- and post-transplant risk score in a French high-volume heart transplantation centre. METHODS: All consecutive adult patients listed for a first non-combined heart transplantation between 02 January 2018 and 30 June 2022 at our centre were included. Baseline characteristics of candidates and recipients were retrieved from the national CRISTAL registry. Both scores were calculated at listing and at transplant. RESULTS: Overall, 364 patients were included. During follow-up, 257 patients (70.6%) were transplanted, and 57 (15.6%) died or were removed from the waitlist. Post-transplant 3-month survival was 84.8%. Total bilirubin and natriuretic peptides had the most important weight in the pretransplant risk score. This score had a major impact on waitlist outcomes: quartile 1 was characterized by low access to heart transplantation (58.2%) and risk of death on the waitlist (9.9%) compared with quartile 4 (heart transplantation rate 74.1%, mortality on the waiting list>20%). According to the post-transplant risk score, a minimal number of candidates were considered ineligible for heart transplantation (<1%), but 12.4% were contraindicated to at least one donor category. The number of contraindicated donor categories had a significant impact on waitlist outcomes. Although adequately calibrated, the post-transplant score had a limited discrimination (area under the curve 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.59-0.71). CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the major impact of pre- and post-transplantation risk scores on waitlist outcomes following the allocation scheme update.

Intermediate-term outcomes of complement inhibition for prevention of antibody-mediated rejection in immunologically high-risk heart allograft recipients.

Allosensitization represents a major barrier to heart transplantation. We previously reported favorable 1-year outcomes of complement inhibition at transplant in highly sensitized recipients. We now report a longer follow-up. In this single-arm trial (NCT02013037), 20 patients with panel reactive antibodies ≥70% and preformed donor-specific antibodies received eculizumab during the first 2 months post-transplant. The primary end-point was antibody-mediated rejection ≥ pAMR2 and/or left ventricular dysfunction. The median follow-up was 4.8 years. Beyond the first year post-transplant, there were no episodes of pAMR2 or greater and no Left Ventricular (LV) dysfunction. There were 3 deaths, 1 episode of pAMR1, and 1 patient with minimal de novo cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Compared to a matched control group, we observed a nonstatistically significant benefit of eculizumab with a lower incidence of the primary end-point or death (primary end-point: hazard ratio = 0.50, 95% confidence interval = 0.15-1.67, and p = 0.26; mortality: hazard ratio = 0.51, 95% confidence interval = 0.13-2.07, and p = 0.35). Our results support the utility of complement inhibition for high-immunological-risk recipients. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinincalTrials.gov, NCT02013037. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02013037?term=eculizumab&cond=heart+transplantation&draw=2&rank=1.

Impact of the 2018 French two-score allocation scheme on the profile of heart transplantation candidates and recipients: Insights from a high-volume centre.

BACKGROUND: In 2018, a new cardiac allograft allocation scheme, based on an individual scoring system, considering the risk of death both on the waiting list and after heart transplantation, was implemented in France. AIM: To assess the impact of this new scheme on the profile of transplantation candidates and recipients. METHODS: In this single-centre retrospective study, we included consecutive patients listed and/or transplanted between 01 January 2012 and 30 September 2021 at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. Baseline characteristics of patients were retrieved from the national CRISTAL registry and were compared according to the type of allocation scheme (before or after 2018). RESULTS: A total of 1098 newly listed transplantation candidates and 855 transplant recipients were included. One-year mortality rates after listing and after transplantation were 12.4% and 20%, respectively. At listing, the proportion of candidates on inotropes significantly declined following the scheme update (26.3 versus 20.9%; P=0.038), reflecting a change in medical practice. At transplantation, recipients had worse kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate<60mL/min/1.73 m2: old scheme, 29.7%; new scheme, 46.4%; P<0.001) and were more likely to be on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support (33.5% versus 28.1%; P=0.080) under the new scheme, reflecting the prioritization of more severe patients. Outcomes after transplantation were not significantly influenced by the allocation system. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of the 2018 French allocation scheme had a limited impact on the profile of transplantation candidates, but selected more severe patients for transplantation without significant impact on outcomes after transplantation.

A Review of Biomarkers of Cardiac Allograft Rejection: Toward an Integrated Diagnosis of Rejection.

Despite major advances in immunosuppression, allograft rejection remains an important complication after heart transplantation, and it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The gold standard invasive strategy to monitor and diagnose cardiac allograft rejection, based on the pathologic evaluation of endomyocardial biopsies, suffers from many limitations including the low prevalence of rejection, sample bias, high inter-observer variability, and international working formulations based on arbitrary cut-offs that simplify the landscape of rejection. The development of innovative diagnostic and prognostic strategies-integrating conventional histology, molecular profiling of allograft biopsy, and the discovery of new tissue or circulating biomarkers-is one of the major challenges of translational medicine in solid organ transplantation, and particularly in heart transplantation. Major advances in the field of biomarkers of rejection have paved the way for a paradigm shift in the monitoring and diagnosis of cardiac allograft rejection. We review the recent developments in the field, including non-invasive biomarkers to minimize the number of protocol endomyocardial biopsies and tissue biomarkers as companion tools of pathology to refine the diagnosis of cardiac rejection. Finally, we discuss the potential role of these biomarkers to provide an integrated bio-histomolecular diagnosis of cardiac allograft rejection.