Direct oral anticoagulant considerations in solid organ transplantation: A review.

For more than 60 years, warfarin was the only oral anticoagulation agent available for use in the United States. In many recent clinical trials, several direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) demonstrated similar efficacy with an equal or superior safety profile, with some other notable benefits. The DOACs have lower inter- and intrapatient variability, much shorter half-lives, and less known drug-drug and drug-food interactions as compared to warfarin.

Acyclovir versus valganciclovir for preventing cytomegalovirus infection in intermediate-risk liver transplant recipients.

Context: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an opportunistic infection that causes profound morbidity and mortality after orthotopic liver transplant (OLT). The CMV immunoglobulin G serostatuses of donors and recipients are the main factors influencing risk for development of CMV infection after transplant.

Objective: To compare acyclovir and valganciclovir for preventing CMV infection after OLT.

Clostridium difficile infection, a descriptive analysis of solid organ transplant recipients at a single center.

Clostridium difficile is a bacterial enteric pathogen, which causes clinical disease among solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. This large, single-center, retrospective study describes incidence, demographics, and impact of C. difficile infection (CDI) among adult SOT recipients, cardiac (n=5), lung (n=14), liver (n=9), renal (n=26), and multiorgan (n=9) patients transplanted and diagnosed with CDI (geneB PCR) between 9/2009 and 12/2012.

Similar survival in patients following heart transplantation receiving induction therapy using daclizumab vs. basiliximab.

Background: Induction therapy with interleukin-2 receptor antagonists has been established as an effective immunosuppressive strategy in the management of heart transplant (HTx) recipients. We compared outcomes following HTx in patients receiving basiliximab, daclizumab, or no induction therapy.

Methods And Results: We investigated post-transplant prognosis of patients receiving basiliximab (n=67), daclizumab (n=98) or no induction therapy (n=70).

Risk evaluation and mitigation strategy programs in solid organ transplantation: the promises of information technology.

Risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) required by the Food and Drug Administration are implemented to manage known or potential risks associated with medications and to ensure ongoing safe use throughout the life of a pharmaceutical agent. Healthcare organizations have begun to adopt information technologies with clinical decision support (CDS) to ensure safe use of medications. Systems have been expanded and customized to also ensure compliance with regulatory standards.