Escalante, Patricio

AbstractBackgroundAntifungal prophylaxis strategies for lung transplant recipients vary without consensus or standard of care. Our current study aims to identify antifungal prophylaxis practices in the United States.MethodsFrom November 29, 2018, to February 15, 2019, we emailed surveys to medical directors of adult lung transplant centers. An alternate physician representative was approached if continued non‐response after three survey attempts. Descriptive statistics were used to report findings.ResultsForty‐four of 62 (71.0%) eligible centers responded. All Organ Procurement and Transplantation Networks were represented. Only four (9.1%) centers used pre‐transplant prophylaxis for prevention of tracheobronchitis (3 of 4) and invasive fungal disease (4 of 4). Thirty‐nine of forty (97.5%) centers used post‐transplant prophylaxis: 36 (90.0%) universal and 3 (7.5%) pre‐emptive/selective prophylaxis. Most centers used nebulized amphotericin with a systemic agent (26 of 36, 72.2%). Thirty‐two of thirty‐six (88.9%) centers continued universal prophylaxis beyond the hospital setting. Duration of prophylaxis ranged from the post‐transplant hospitalization to lifelong with most centers (25 of 36, 69.4%) discontinuing prophylaxis 6 months or less post‐transplant.ConclusionMost United States' lung transplant centers utilize a universal prophylaxis with nebulized amphotericin and a systemic triazole for 6 months or less post‐transplant. Very few centers use pre‐transplant antifungal prophylaxis.

ABSTRACT The QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus; Qiagen, Germantown, MD) interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) received FDA clearance in 2017 and will replace the prior version of the assay, the QFT-Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT). Here, we compared performances of the QFT-Plus assay and the QFT-GIT version in a diverse patient population, including patients undergoing evaluation for or follow-up of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI; n = 39) or active TB infection ( n = 3), and in health care workers (HCWs; n = 119) at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN). Compared to the QFT-GIT, the QFT-Plus assay showed 91.2% (31/34) positive, 98.4% (124/126) negative, and 96.6% (156/161) overall qualitative agreement among the 161 enrolled subjects, with a Cohen's kappa value of 0.91 (excellent interrater agreement). Among the 28 patients diagnosed with LTBI at the time of enrollment, the QFT-GIT and QFT-Plus assays agreed in 24 (85.7%) patients; in all four discordant patients, the positivity of the QFT-GIT or QFT-Plus IGRA was associated with low-level interferon gamma (IFN-γ) reactivity, ranging from 0.36 IU/ml to 0.66 IU/ml. Additionally, we document a high degree of correlation between IFN-γ levels in the QFT-GIT TB antigen tube and each of the two QFT-Plus TB antigen tubes, as well as between the QFT-Plus TB1 and TB2 tubes (Pearson's correlation coefficients [ R ] > 0.95). Overall, we show comparable results between the QFT-GIT and QFT-Plus assays in our study population composed of subjects presenting with a diverse spectrum of TB infections. Our findings suggest that the necessary transition to the QFT-Plus assay will be associated with a minimal difference in assay performance characteristics.