Overview
- The CHUAC team presented preliminary results Thursday at Spain’s transplant congress in A Coruña, reporting the assay let clinicians skip more than 80% of planned biopsies.
- The test looks for donor-derived DNA fragments in a standard blood draw, which climb when the transplanted heart is injured and may signal rejection.
- Researchers performed 17 checks in clinically stable patients, and only two unclear results led to biopsies that did not confirm rejection.
- Cardiologist Marisa Crespo-Leiro and immunologist Javier Cid lead the project, and they say hospitals in Spain have begun to adopt the approach.
- Broader use will require larger, multicenter validation and guideline updates, and Spain’s high transplant volume with CHUAC nearing 1,000 heart transplants makes it a strong proving ground.