December 2023 JHLT: The Podcast
On the December 2023 episode of JHLT: The Podcast, the Digital Media Editors explore two studies from the December issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.
The first segment in the episode features a study presented by first author Mark E. Snyder, MD, and senior author John F. McDyer, MD, “Impact of age and telomere length on circulating T cells and rejection risk after lung transplantation for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.”
A subset of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have a heritable, age-adjusted short telomere length. Mutations in telomere length can manifest as T-cell dysfunction and immunodeficiency. As T-cells are involved in the development of acute cellular rejection (ACR), the authors hypothesized that the combination of age and telomere length would impact the degree of ACR burden in lung transplant recipients—and indeed, the authors found that lung transplant recipients with IPF and short telomere length had premature “aging” of their circulating T-Cells. There was a significant decline in early ACR burden with increasing age, found only in those with short telomere length.
In the second segment of the episode, the Digital Media Editors speak to senior author Snehal R. Patel, MD, on the study “Early optical coherence tomography evaluation of donor-transmitted atherosclerosis and cardiac allograft vasculopathy: insights from a prospective, single-center study.”
Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains a major cause of death in heart transplant recipients, and donor-transmitted atherosclerosis (defined as a maximal intimal thickness of >/= 0.5mm on baseline intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) early after transplant) is believed to carry a greater risk for the development of CAV. Dr. Patel’s team, however, hypothesized that optical coherence tomography (OCT) may have advantages over IVUS as an imaging modality due to its higher resolution. In the episode, Dr. Patel shares the key features of OCT that may make it of clinical use, the three risk categories developed for the study, and what the follow-ups might be.
To follow along, visit the JHLT, and for more information on the podcast, visit thejhlt.libsyn.com.