ISHLT Presents Xenotransplantation Webinar on 25 May

CHICAGO, May 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) will follow the xenotransplantation presentation from its Annual Meeting opening plenary session with an in-depth xenotransplantation webinar, 25 May at noon EDT on ISHLTv, the online education platform for the international heart and lung transplantation community.

"Xenotransplantation—Crossing the Final Frontier?" is co-chaired by Simon Urschel, MD, and Anna Meyer, MD, and organized by the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Interdisciplinary Network of the ISHLT, a collective of multidisciplinary clinicians, researchers, and allied health professionals practicing with the same clinical focus.

The use of animal organs for transplantation into human recipients has been pursued since the middle of the 20th century in an effort to provide a wider and faster accessible pool of donor organs to patients in desperate need. Early clinical trials from the 1960s – 1980s revealed serious setbacks and barriers.

"Xenotransplantation has received a surge of attention in the media recently," said Dr. Urschel. "This recent return to clinical application is the result of several decades of relentless research and animal trials that have furthered our understanding of immunological and hemostatic barriers—but also the application of newly developed ground-breaking techniques of genetic and metabolic manipulation."

"In this ISHLTv webinar, worldwide pioneers and experts in this field will provide us with insight into the encountered barriers and attempts to overcome them, but also ongoing concerns and limitations," Dr. Urschel continued. "We will hear about the amazing discoveries and interventions on molecular level that have paved the way to bring this approach back to clinical reality, but also practical and ethical concerns on every clinician's mind, including lessons learned from past clinical trials."

The webinar will explore immunological and metabolic barriers and how to overcome them, considerations around transmission of infectious diseases between species, how to prevent these, and additional ethical concerns on a patient and population level. A panel discussion including all speakers and additional discussants will provide opportunity to ask the experts questions.

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Moderators:
Anna Meyer, MD                                        Simon Urschel, MD, PhD
Leipzig Heart Center                                     University of Alberta
Leipzig, Germany                                         Edmonton, AB Canada

Of Mice and Men: Genetic Engineering to Overcome
Interspecies Barriers
Richard Pierson, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

Is the Solution the Solution? Organ Preservation and Surgical Aspects of Xenotransplantation
Paolo Brenner, MD, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Perioperative Management of a Xenotransplant
Muhammad M Mohiuddin, MD, Rush-Presbyterian - St. Luke's Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA

Are We Any Smarter After the Pandemic? Risk and Prevention of Interspecies Infectious Transmission in Xenotransplantation
Jay Fishman, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

38 Years After Baby Fae: Ethical Consideration Around Xenotransplantation and Associated Gene Manipulation
Richard Chinnock, MD, MHCM, Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, CA, USA

Registration for the webinar is free to members of the ISHLT and $22 USD for all others. All registrants will receive on-demand access to the webinar to view it any time after the live presentation. Register at ishlt.org/ishltv.

About ISHLT
The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation is a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary professional organization dedicated to improving the care of patients with advanced heart or lung disease through transplantation, mechanical support and innovative therapies. With members in more than 50 countries, ISHLT is the world's largest organization dedicated to the research, education and advocacy of end-stage heart and lung disease. ISHLT members represent more than 15 different professional disciplines. For more information, visit www.ishlt.org.

SOURCE The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation