Prospective Microbial Analysis of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluids with Immune Function Testing Can Distinguish Between Fungal Colonization and Fungal Disease In Lung Transplant ...( Data from 150 lung transplant patie...),Health

Data from 150 lung transplant patients demonstrates potential to improve

management of risk for infection

BOSTON, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A prospective analysis of data collected from 170 patients receiving lung transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has suggested that the ImmuKnow(R) assay of cell-mediated immunity (CMI), when combined with microbial analysis of bronchoalveolar (BAL) fluids in immunosuppressed patients, can help to differentiate between patients with fungal colonization and those patients with active fungal infections. These data were presented in an oral session today by Shahid Husain, MD at the annual meeting of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston, MA.

"Our hypothesis was that global immunoreactivity, as measured prospectively using the ImmuKnow assay of CMI, would be different for patients with fungal colonization as compared to patients with true fungal infections," said Dr. Husain. "This hypothesis appears to have been borne out by our preliminary results."

"Our study has shown that ImmuKnow values are significantly different for patients with fungal colonization as compared to patients with true fungal infections six months after transplantation," Husain continued.

Data were collected prospectively from 170 lung transplant recipients at UPMC between 2003 and 2006. These patients provided a total of 712 blood samples for analysis, while also being prospectively monitored and classified for episodes of infection according to standardized criteria.

All patients received alemtuzumab induction and tacrolimus suppression to prevent organ rejection. Results of ImmuKnow assays of CMI were included in the analysis if and when they were obtained within 30 days of a documented episode of clinical syndrome (fungal colonization/ fungal disease).

In the initial 6-month period following T-cell depletion (while pat
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