Health Care : Current Reviews

Optical coherence tomography imaging of human kidneys for prediction of post-transplant function

Joint Event on 9^th International Conference on Predictive, Preventive & Personalized Medicine & Molecular Diagnostics & 3^rd International Conference on Integrative Medicine & Alternative treatments

October 26-27, 2018 | Boston, USA

Yu Chen

University of Maryland, USA

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Health Care Current Reviews

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: The number of people on the waiting list for a kidney transplant grows each year and efforts to expand the donor pool to meet this demand have fallen short. Current discard rate for higher risk, expanded criteria donors (ECD) kidneys are nearly 45% compared to just over 10% for standard criteria donor (SCD) kidneys. Surgeons reference a multitude of factors which contribute to their decision to reject a kidney. Principal among these is biopsy results, which are performed routinely on ECD kidneys and are credited as the most frequent reason for discard. The true relevance of these factors is contested, with the majority appearing to have little correlation with graft function following transplant. There is a critical need to enhance prognostic measures and to explore new ways of gaining insights into the viability of these more at-risk kidneys. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) provides a non-invasive method for obtaining optical cross-sections of the superficial kidney cortex, i.e., ???virtual biopsy???. OCT images reveal the microanatomy of the proximal convoluted tubules (PCTs). Quantification of the degree of swelling or prevalence of dilation may provide a valuable addition to current measures of kidney viability. Findings: OCT imaging was performed on donor's kidneys before and immediately after implantation during 169 human kidney transplant surgeries. In ECD kidneys, increased PCT lumen diameter and decreased epithelial thickness was found to predict delay graft function (DGF). Conclusion & Significance: OCT analysis of the donor's kidneys may aid in the allocation of kidneys to expand the donor pool, as well as help, predict post-transplant function in transplanted kidneys to inform post-operative care.

Biography :

Yu Chen is an Associate Professor at the Fischell Department of Bioengineering in the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. His main research interests are optical imaging and associated biomedical applications. He has published 1 book, 16 book chapters and 96 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has been an associate editor of Medical Physics, a guest editor of IEEE Journal of Selected Topics on Quantum Electronics, Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences, Neurophotonics and an Editorial Board member of Scientific Reports. He is a member of IEEE, SPIE and the Optical Society of America (OSA). He has served as a scientific committee co-chair of Annual World Congress of the Society of Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT).

E-mail: yuchen@umd.edu