IPTA Newsletter - September 2019


Message from IPTA President

Dear All,

I am really delighted to be part of this enthusiastic and active IPTA community and would like to thank Anette Melk and the Publications committee for putting this newsletter together, showcasing just some of the exciting projects that IPTA has been developing.

I would urge you all to Save the Date for IPTA 2021 in Prague.

Best wishes,

Mignon McCulloch
IPTA President


This newsletter’s literary highlights come from Lars Pape, Univ. Prof. Dr. Med., Hannover Medical School, MHH – Clinic for Paediatric Nephrology, Hepatology and Metabolic Disorders.

  1. R. J. Arasaratnam, I. Tzannou, T. Gray, P. I. Aguayo‐Hiraldo, M. Kuvalekar, S. Naik, A. Gaikwad, H. Liu, T. Miloh, J. F. Vera, R. W. Himes, F. M. Munoz, A. M. Leen
    Dynamics of virus‐specific T cell immunity in pediatric liver transplant recipients. Am J Transplant 2019; 18(9): online first.

    In this manuscript the authors describe the clinical course of EBV, CMV, HHV6 and BKPyV specific T cells in children after pediatric liver transplantation. This manuscript is the first to prove in children after liver Tx that Virus specific T cells can be a useful tool in monitoring the cellular immune response to different viral disease dependent on change of immunosuppression and implementation of antiviral therapy. Future interventional trials will have to prove the additional value of this monitoring tool for infection control and graft survival.

  2. Bonthuis M, Groothoff JW, Ariceta G, Baiko S, Battelino N, Bjerre A, Cransberg K, Kolvek G, Maxwell H, Miteva P, Molchanova MS, Neuhaus TJ, Pape L, Reusz G, Rousset-Rouviere C, Sandes AR, Topaloglu R, Dyck MV, Ylinen E, Zagozdzon I, Jager KJ, Harambat J.
    Growth Patterns After Kidney Transplantation in European Children Over the Past 25 Years: An ESPN/ERA-EDTA Registry Study. Transplantation 2019 Apr 1.

    This manuscript shows in more than 3400 European pediatric kidney recipients differences in growth patterns linked to the country they come from. Only a little more than half of the children have normal height SDS values. Especially the youngest children hat the most severe growth retardation and growth hormone was not routinely used in many patients of this cohort. Additionally, no follow-up growth could be determined in children transplanted above an age of 12 years. This paper is therefore an important contribution that should enforce all of us in early use of adequate nutrition and growth hormone in chronic renal failure in order to improve final height of children before and after kidney transplantation.

  3. Yevgeniya Atiskova, Simon Dulz, Kaja Schmäschke, Jun Oh, Enke Grabhorn, Markus J. Kemper, Florian Brinkert
    Oxalate retinopathy is irreversible despite early combined liver‐kidney transplantation in primary hyperoxaluria type 1. Am J Transplant 2019; (18)9: online first.

    This manuscript evaluated the course of oxalate retinopathy in children before and after combined pediatric Liver and Kidney Transplantation. The authors could show that time to transplantation was associated with worse oxalate retinopathy and that no improvement of oxalate deposition could be found after transplantation. Therefore, this paper underlines the need for early diagnosis of Hyperoxaluria combined with early interventions as Vitamin B6 therapy, combined peritoneal- and hemodialysis, combined Liver- / Kidney Transplantation as well as new emerging therapies as Oxalobacter perfringens or gene therapeutics in order to inhibit the development of systemic oxalosis as much as possible.


Dear IPTA Colleagues,

Would you like help from senior members to refine your research question or review your manuscripts to increase likelihood of publication? The Publications and Communications Committee would like to invite you to participate in the Peer Mentoring designed to increase access to experienced reviews. We would like to offer to participants a chance to have a dialogue with those experienced in the publication process prior to final submission. Responsibilities of your mentor would include reviewer style feedback to the mentee and availability for subsequent questions. Mentors would also be available to refine language to meet standards for publication, especially for non-native English speakers. We are also looking for suggestions of names of others who might be interested and encourage junior faculty and allied health members to join!

If you are interested, please send your name, email, and any specific areas of research focus to katie.tait@tts.org.

Thank you in advance for your support,

Peer Mentoring Workgroup, IPTA
Chesney Castleberry, Workgroup Leader, IPTA Publications Committee


Dear IPTA Colleagues,

The Allied Health (AH) held its first all day pre-congress symposium entitled ‘Improving Outcomes in Pediatric Transplant: A Collaborative and Comprehensive Approach to Care’. It was a great success with over 60 attendees from 8 different countries in attendance including nurses, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians, transplant coordinators, chaplains, students and researchers from various disciplines! The symposium included amazing speakers and panel discussions covering a broad range of topics including:

  • The Family in Stress: Assessment, strategies and outcomes
  • Avatars for Adherence? Utilizing the digital world to improve outcomes
  • Back to Basics: Talking instead of texting
  • Social Media: Friend or foe (debate)
  • Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n roll: Lifestyle guidelines
  • The Role of Palliative Care in Paediatric Transplantation: A panel discussion

Please log in to the congress website to see recordings of the sessions!

In addition, over 70 Allied Health delegates registered for the congress. From Allied Health, there were 6 abstracts presentations, 8 mini-abstract presentations, 11 posters presentations and interactive workshops on the following topics:

  • Nutrition and Oral Feeding
  • Frailty as a Concept in Pediatric Transplantation
  • Interventions and Outcomes in Transition: Engaging Adolescents in the Transition Process
  • Ethical Issues in Pediatric Transplantation: When a Patient is No Longer a Transplant Candidate

Finally, we also hosted an open Allied Health Professionals business meeting, followed by a social event, which provided a great opportunity to meet new colleagues, network and share ideas.

IPTA, TTS and CST Scientific Awards Winners

Congratulations to all the AH professionals whose great work and positive contributions to the organization were recognized through awards:

  • Beverly Kosmach-Park was awarded the Distinguished Allied Health Professional Award
  • Research awards were given for the following projects:
    • Anna Gold - Early School Age Cognitive Performance Post Pediatric Heart Transplantation
    • Catherine Patterson - Neurodevelopmental Motor Outcomes in Young Children Pre and Post Liver Transplant
    • Taylor Melanson - Prevalence and Consequences of Medication Non Adherence in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients in the United States 2005-2015
    • Jenny Velasco - Overweight and Obesity Prevalence in Children After Transplant: Short and Medium Term Evolution
    • Robin Deliva - Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Young Heart transplant recipients
    • Mar Miserachs - Standardized Feeding Protocol Following Pediatric Liver Transplantation – A Pathway for Improved Nutritional Care
AHP Committee Initiatives for 2019-2021
  1. Allied Health Membership and Focus Survey
    To describe the prevalence, diversity and clinical practice focus of AH team members within each centre globally. This information will serve as a foundation to help inform and develop a greater understanding of multi-disciplinary team composition, and frameworks regarding professional practice. Watch your inbox for a survey coming later 2019!

  2. Maintain regular communication with Allied Health
    To continually update the Allied Health Professional page on the IPTA website including regular profiling of AH members, update of committee initiatives and membership benefits. Check out our webpage for upcoming features including ‘Get To Know Your AH Colleagues’, with member profiles every two months and updates on AH related research projects.

  3. Continuing education with AH members through the development of a series of webinars
    To develop a series of webinars covering a range of relevant AH topics and drawing upon the expertise of members. The topics for these webinars will be informed by the AH survey results and direct feedback from our members during the IPTA 2019 Congress. Stay tuned!
Upcoming Goals for IPTA 2021 Congress (Prague, Czech Republic)

Plenary and State-of-the Art presentations on AH topics is currently in the planning phase! Be sure to save the date for Prague 2021!

Many thanks for your support,

Anna Gold and Jenny Wichart
Co-Chairs – IPTA Allied Health Professional Committee


Please find this update on Pediatric Transplantation from the Editors-in-Chief Sharon Bartosh and Burkhard Tönshoff.

The Author Guidelines for Pediatric Transplantation have recently been revised (click here). There you will also find the respective links to a number of Research Reporting Guidelines such as CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews and CARE for case reports, beside others. Accurate and complete reporting enables readers to fully appraise research, replicate it, and use it. Authors are encouraged to adhere to recognized research reporting standards. The EQUATOR Network has collected more than 370 reporting guidelines for many study types (click here to visit the website).

Pediatric Transplantation offers the publication of Special Issues such as a series of articles derived from a consensus conference, with all review articles on a particular topic published in one issue. If you plan such a conference, consider to publish the consensus document and/or the respective review articles in our journal. Please contact the Editors-in-Chief Sharon Bartosh and Burkhard Tönshoff beforehand (smbartosh@wisc.edu, burkhard.toenshoff@med.uni-heidelberg.de).

IPTA Readership Survey for readers of Pediatric Transplantation>

Pediatric Transplantation is the official journal of IPTA. At the link below, you will find a survey created by the IPTA Publication Committee and IPTA Leadership regarding the journal. We hope to continue to improve the services the journal provides to you, our members. This survey will help us identify areas to expand or improve. We promise it will not take more than a few minutes to fill out.

Thank you!
IPTA Publication Committee and IPTA Leadership


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