NOVEL Lung Transplant Trial Opens

Beginning in June 2011, an important trial will test a new method of preserving donor lungs before transplantation. This method could potentially increase the availability of donor organs.

The multi-center NOVEL Lung Trial (Normothermic Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion as an Assessment of Extended/Marginal Donor Lungs) will run at Columbia from June 2011 to March 2014, under the direction of Principal Investigator Frank D’Ovidio, MD, PhD, Director, Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion Program and Associate Surgical Director, Lung Transplant Program, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The trial is a two-arm, non-randomized, open-label study to evaluate the 30-day mortality of patients undergoing lung transplant with lungs from marginal or extended donors treated with ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) versus those undergoing lung transplant with lungs considered transplant suitable.

Transplant surgeons at the University of Toronto have developed an effective perfusion methodology to maintain donor lungs ex vivo (outside of the body) at physiologic body temperatures. Preclinical data shows that ex vivo perfusion with STEEN solution is as good, if not better than, the standard cold static preservation. The NOVEL study proposes to use the EVLP technique to improve donor lung assessment before transplant, and thereby safely increase the number of available lungs for transplant. If the lungs demonstrate a favorable ex vivo evaluation, the lungs will be transplanted into a patient.

Inclusion Criteria: Any male or female, 18 years of age or older, who requires a single or bilateral lung transplant and provides a legally effective informed consent.

For more information about the clinical trial visit NOVEL Lung Trial or:

Contact: Jaya Tiwari
Phone: 212-342-1518
E-mail: jlt2144@columbia.edu

For more information about lung transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia please see: Lung Transplant Program.

Tagged as: clinicaltrials, D'Ovidio, lung, transplant