Transplant patients and their donors must be screened, diagnosed and monitored for common transplant-associated infections with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serology tests. Transplant recipients are often immunosuppressed and can become seriously ill even with minor infections.
About 50% to 65% of transplant recipients will develop symptomatic viral infection within 90 days post–solid organ transplant without prophylaxis, and infections account for about 20% of the deaths within 100 days after hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT). The earlier these infections can be detected, the higher the likelihood that clinicians can place patients on treatment to produce better outcomes.3,4
Labs have a critical role to play in screening viruses in the donor and the recipient, as well as monitoring the transplant recipient over time. Labs are charged with making sure that patients receive comparable diagnostic testing across institutions and throughout the continuum of care. This can be complex due to many patients receiving their testing and monitoring labs at different locations from where their transplant is performed.