Reuters Health Information (2004-10-28): Routine testing for viral RNA could improve safety of organ transplantation
Routine testing for viral RNA could improve safety of organ transplantation
Last Updated: 2004-10-28 18:30:15 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Routine testing for viral
RNA in serum samples from transplant donors could help identify
infected organs that would have been missed with standard screening
methods, according to a report in the October 30th issue of The Lancet.
In the new study, Dr. Jean-Michel Pawlotsky, from Hopital Henri
Mondor in Creteil, France, and colleagues used nucleic acid testing to
look for HIV and hepatitic C virus (HCV) RNA in samples from 3049
donors. The subjects included 2236 organ donors, 636 tissue donors, and
177 cornea donors.
Five HCV RNA-positive donors were identified among the 2119
HCV-seronegative organ donors and one HCV RNA-positive donor was
discovered among the 631 HCV-seronegative tissue donors, the
researchers point out.
In contrast, nucleic acid testing failed to uncover any
HIV-seronegative donors who were, in fact, HIV RNA-positive, the
While routine nucleic acid testing could improve transplantation
safety, the researchers state that further studies are needed to
determine the clinical significance, if any, of seronegative HCV
"Implementation of systematic nucleic acid testing screening of
tissue (and cell) donors is highly feasible because viral testing can
be done every day and can be based on standardised, partly automated,
commercial techniques and procedures," Dr. Pawlotsky's team writes. In
contrast, further technical refinements are required before such
testing can be widely applied to screening of organ donors.