HISTOCOMPATIBILITY LAB EXPANDING
HEART TRANSPLANT 1-YEAR PATIENT SURVIVAL , UAB VERSUS EXPECTED
UAB ’ s Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics ( HI ) Lab , the only comprehensive HI lab in Alabama , is among the largest and most respected of 200 similar laboratories in the United States . It performs high-complexity tests to determine compatibility with prospective transplant recipients at UAB Hospital , Children ’ s of Alabama , and the Birmingham VA Medical Center . The lab also serves as the contract lab for Alabama ’ s Legacy of Hope organ center .
HISTOCOMPATIBILITY LAB
UAB ’ s one-year patient survival rate was significantly better than the expected rate and U . S . average .
Within the last year , the HI Lab tested more than 16,000 patient and donor samples . This includes over 4,000 solid organ transplant patients , 580 potential living kidney donors , 325 potential BMT / HSC transplant recipients , 658 BMT donors , and over 300 deceased donors . Prior to transplant , highly trained staff perform pre-transplant risk assessments for patients and donors to minimize the risk of rejection , as well as monitoring recipients for rejection posttransplant . The lab performs crucial work , done around the clock 365 days a year and in demanding , time-sensitive circumstances . No transplant can be performed until the lab team identifies both the donor ’ s and the potential recipient ’ s histocompatibility antigens , known as human leukocyte antigens ( HLAs ), and then assesses for predetermined anti-HLA antibodies .
A major expansion project is currently underway to enable the lab to bring the cutting-edge high-resolution NGS HLA typing method to UAB . NGS ( next-generation sequencing ) technology makes possible unambiguous determination of the sequence of each HLA allele . Further , the throughput of this typing method is sufficiently high to enable complete typing of large batches of individual DNA sets in a single sequencing run , greatly improving capacity and turnaround times . The addition of this new technology will enable the HI Lab to fulfill the increasing demand for high-resolution typing for complex transplant cases , disease association correlations , ongoing studies , and research . uabmedicine . org / refertransplant 31