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Inspiratory Muscle Training in Lung Transplant Candidates and Implications on Early Post-Transplant Outcomes: A Pilot and Feasibility Randomized Clinical Trial

Recovery after lung transplantation may be challenging after a long stay in the intensive care unit or hospital after surgery. The structure and function of the diaphragm (most important breathing muscle) is very important for good recovery after surgery. Training this muscle before surgery may provide "extra reserve" to cope with the stresses after surgery. Rehabilitation guidelines suggest that inspiratory muscle training (IMT) combined with standard whole-body exercises prior to major surgery can reduce post-operative complications and expedite recovery. In major thoracic surgery or organ transplantation, the mechanisms and clinical benefits of IMT have not been well established. The lung transplant population represents a unique group to study the benefits of pre-operative IMT. We propose to study 100 lung transplant patients awaiting surgery who will be randomized to receive either: 1) IMT and standard rehabilitation or 2) standard rehabilitation alone across 4 centers in Canada. Participants in group 1 will use a well-established respiratory muscle training device to train twice daily until transplantation. All participants will undergo standard rehabilitation until the time of surgery and 3-months post-transplant. In a subset of the 100 patients, muscle biopsies of the diaphragm will be performed in the Toronto program at the time of surgery. This study will determine if the research design is feasible. Secondary measures will evaluate breathlessness, quality of life, diaphragm function and cellular characteristics, and clinical outcomes 3-months post-transplant. This study will provide a unique opportunity to understand whether IMT is feasible across 4 transplant centers and get an assessment of post-operative outcomes and mechanisms underlying IMT. This study may serve as a model for examining IMT as part of pre-operative rehabilitation in a number of patient populations undergoing major surgery.

Apply by 2023-03-08

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

EMPOWER: A 12-week online wellness program for people 50+ who have received an organ transplant

EMPOWER is a 12-week online mind-body wellness program for people who are 50+ and have received an organ transplant. The program will be delivered online, and include follow-along mindful movement, breathwork and meditation routines, and a psychology-based coping skills program. Participants may be assigned to start right away or in 3 months' time. As part of the research process, they may also receive weekly brief check-ins from the study team. Participants are asked to complete a minimum of 90-12o minutes on program content each week.

Apply by 2025-05-19

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Outcomes of organs transplanted after Medical Assistance in Dying in the province of Québec

Since the initial development of the program in 2017, donation after Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) has grown substantially in Québec. Today almost 15% of all donors in Québec come from this pathway and 182 organs were transplanted from 64 donors between 2018 and 2022. However, while transplant programs informally report that recipients of these organs have had favorable outcomes, very little scientific data has been published on the topic. Our project aims to evaluate how the patients who received these kidneys, livers, and lungs are doing after the transplant using standardized outcome definitions. We will compare to patients who received organs from traditional donation pathways such as after brain death or living donation. This will provide important knowledge that can be used to: encourage programs to develop or improve their donation after MAID programs; give patients who are considering donation after MAID more information about the impact their gift could make; serve as a pilot project for a Canada wide program that would evaluate similar questions.

Apply by 2023-04-03

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Canadian Society of Transplantation - Abstract Reviewer for Annual Conference

The Canadian Society of Transplantation (CST) hosts an annual conference, which will take place in Oct 2023. Researchers and clinicians submit summaries of their research (scientific abstracts and lay/plain language summaries) which are reviewed by their peers from the scientific committee, and also by patient-family-donor partners to determine their suitability for teh conference. Top rated abstracts are also selected for awards, with 2 awards for the best lay/plain language summaries, selected by PFD partners.

Apply by 2023-05-15

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

PROBE Pilot RCT

Kidney transplant rejection remains a major issue for children after kidney transplantation. Please note that rejection episodes are the primary contributor to premature kidney graft failure. Current clinical monitoring with blood tests like serum creatinine is ineffective in identifying early rejection. We have developed and validated a urine test called CXCL10 that effectively identifies inflammation within the transplant and is an early sign acute rejection. This clinical trial will evaluate how regular screening of CXCL10 can improve long-term graft function by effectively identifying and treating episodes of graft inflammation at an early stage before there is any detectable clinical impact from kidney damage. This study will randomize children who are more than six months after their kidney transplant to either receive the intervention of serial monitoring by urinary CXCL10 or will have samples collected as part of a control group. They will be followed for two years, two ascertain changes in kidney function in that time. The group that is assigned to do serial monitoring will have additional testing if the CXCL10 level is high and will receive treatment based on the additional testing which includes diagnosis of rejection. This 1st stage of the trial is to conduct a pilot study that will demonstrate the feasibility of the larger, definitive clinical trial. The goals will be to the establish that 1) we can meet a target to enroll and randomize an initial 60 patients from 3 centers to the study; 2) we can execute the logistical aspects of the trial including obtaining samples on time, CXCL10 testing and reporting, and application of the clinical protocol for positive CXCL10 tests; and 3) to determine the most economical approach for testing in the definitive trial. The findings of this trial will be used to support a subsequent application for a larger, definitive, multicenter clinical trial.

Apply by 2023-10-30

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Experiencing graft failure and exploring re-transplantation: a patient perspective

Kidney transplantation can significantly improve the lives of patients with kidney disease. But the life span of a transplanted kidney is limited, and many patients experience graft failure. Patients with graft failure do extremely poorly. They experience a life-altering event for which they are often poorly prepared and poorly supported. Many are not re-transplant candidates and some die after experiencing graft failure. It is known that patients with graft failure experience fragmented transitions of care between the transplant and dialysis teams. Patient perspectives are poorly researched and poorly understood, thus poorly translated into clinical practice. This research project aims to obtain the perspectives of patients and their caregivers who are in different stages of graft failure. We want to describe the unique experiences and needs of patients as they transition to dialysis, re-transplantation or palliative care. We also want to identify factors that can improve the care, outcomes, and well-being of these patients and what patients think impedes their access to re-transplantation. We will use well-established qualitative methods that are largely unexplored in the field of kidney transplantation. Our team includes nationally recognized transplant clinicians, researchers, and leaders.

Apply by 2023-05-23

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Curating Critical Futurities in Transplant Medicine: Arts Practices as New Knowledge

“Curating Critical Futurities in Transplant Medicine: Arts Practices as New Knowledge” asks us to consider how the arts can be part of creating new knowledge and materializing new futures for people impacted by transplant medicine. Transplant medicine is a field marked by frictions: entanglements of self with other, graft with host; biomarkers, biopsies, devices, pills and surgeries blur inside with outside. A curative hope can be elusive as health is marked by the chronicity of other illness. In this event, our research team (consisting of academics, artists, students, and people with lived experience of transplantation) is proposing to create an exhibition of artistic projects and makings from a large multi-year arts-based study of psychosocial challenges and resiliencies across different solid organ transplantation programs. The project is embedded in a critical disability (and disability arts) framework, and we are hoping to engage people working in the biomedical side of transplantation with ways of knowing transplant differently, through the arts.

Apply by 2023-07-17

In person
This opportunity is now closed

Dragon's Den Judge for the Canadian Society for Transplantation innovation grant competition

This is a live "dragon's den" competition that will be held in-person at the Canadian Society for Transplantation Annual Meeting on Tues Oct 17th, 2023 in Winnipeg. You will serve as a judge for the competition along with 2 other panel members. You will hear 3 pitches for "innovation grants" for clinical research projects that are aimed to improve the outcomes and quality of life of transplant recipients. Along with a live audience and the judges, you will be involved with selecting the winner of this competition.

Apply by 2023-09-08

In person
This opportunity is now closed

Identification and Prioritization of Postoperative Outcomes in Research with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders and People Living with Kidney Failure

Are you a person with kidney failure that has had surgery? Or do you have a family member or loved one that has? If so, we are inviting you to participate in a study to identify research priorities for people with kidney failure having surgery, approved by the University of Calgary Health Research Ethics Board (REB23-0749, Principal Investigator Dr Tyrone Harrison): Identification and Prioritization of Postoperative Outcomes in Research with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders and People Living with Kidney Failure. People with kidney failure have up to 16 times more surgeries than people without kidney disease. They also have worse outcomes after surgery including a higher risk of heart attacks and death. Current research for people with kidney disease focuses on outcomes that doctors and researchers think are important. In this project, we are trying to identify what is most important to people with kidney failure as they have surgery, to learn more about these outcomes and understand if tools should be developed to predict the risk of those outcomes. If you are interested in participating, please click this link https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_9mZmv4Ffety6LxY, and we will be in contact with further information and an electronic consent process. Please feel free to email Dr. Tyrone Harrison at tgharris@ucalgary.ca with any questions. Thank you for considering, Tyrone Harrison, MD PhD FRCPC Nephrologist and Assistant Professor Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Apply by 2023-10-31

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

"The Donor": Exploring kin, obligation & "the gift" through Film

Our research team is an interdisciplinary group of artists, social scientists, clinicians and people with lived experience of transplantation, and we are looking at different ways that artistic practices can help to create new understandings in relation to transplant experiences. Our project team has been working with filmmaker and liver transplant recipient Fraser Best, who has created a short documentary film about the relationship between him and his living donor and some of the unspoken feelings, thoughts and ideas that can take place within relationships in living donation. We are aiming to show the short film (16 min) to a small group of interested people online and then have a Q&A/discussion with Fraser and our project team. The discussion is part of our research: we're interested in understanding if this film offers insights around living donation that aren't often discussed in official or institutional settings and if the film prompts important reflections that aren't always or easily talked about relating to transplant and donation.

Apply by 2023-11-20

Virtual

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