Trial to Compare the SherpaPak™ Device vs Cold Storage (SherpaPak)

February 1, 2025 updated by: Fardad Esmailian, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Randomized Trial to Compare the SherpaPak™ Device vs Cold Storage of Donor Hearts in Transplantation: A Pilot Study

The Investigator's are doing this study to see which method of organ preservation leads to better outcomes for donated hearts.

There are two methods of organ preservation. The first method is the use of cold storage. With this method, the donor heart is stored in preservation fluid within bags that are then placed on ice and transported in a cooler. This is the usual method for transporting donor hearts. This is also known as "standard of care."

The second method is the use of the SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System. With this method, the donor heart is kept at a steady, consistent temperature throughout transportation. This method is not typically used for transporting donor hearts.

The study will include up to 20 people in total.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a randomized study and has 2 study groups. Participants will be randomly assigned to a group in a 1:1 ratio.

  • 50% chance of receiving a donor heart using the SherpaPak™ method, or
  • 50% chance of receiving a donor heart using the cold storage method.

The research team will analyze data from the medical records from the heart transplant and clinic visits up to 30 days after the heart transplant. Participants will be in the study for about 30 days.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048
        • Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Any sex/gender, 18 years of age or older listed for primary heart transplant.
  • Subjects must be willing and be capable of understanding the purpose and risks of the study and must sign a statement of informed consent OR consent of a legally authorized representative of a cognitively impaired individual will be obtained before the cognitively impaired individual may be included in research.
  • Signed: 1) written informed consent document and 2) authorization to use and disclose protected health information
  • Subjects must receive and accept a non-local donor offer (from Northern California, Arizona, Nevada or farther geographies)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Re-do heart transplant
  • Multi-organ transplant

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System
When a matching donor heart from a non-local donor offer (from Northern California, Arizona, Nevada or farther geographies) becomes available the recipient will be assigned a subject identification number and randomized 1:1 to receive a heart transported using either standard of care cold storage or the SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System.
The SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System has been developed to provide a safe, consistent method for cold ischemic storage of donor hearts for transplantation. This device is FDA approved.
Other: Cold Storage
When a matching donor heart from a non-local donor offer (from Northern California, Arizona, Nevada or farther geographies) becomes available the recipient will be assigned a subject identification number and randomized 1:1 to receive a heart transported using either standard of care cold storage or the SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System.
FDA-approved method for organ procurement

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Absence of Moderate to Severe Primary Graft Dysfunction (Left or Right Ventricle)
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant
Percentage of subjects without moderate to severe primary graft dysfunction (left or right ventricle)
24 hours post-transplant
30-day Post-transplant Survival
Time Frame: 30 day post heart transplant (htx)
30 day post heart transplant (htx)
Freedom From 30-day Ischemic Reperfusion Injury
Time Frame: 30 day post htx
30 day post htx
Freedom From 30-day Biopsy Proven Rejection
Time Frame: 30 day post htx
30 day post htx
Freedom From 30-day Any-treated Rejection
Time Frame: 30 day post htx
30 day post htx

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Cardiac Index
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant
24 hours post-transplant
Cardiac Output
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant
24 hours post-transplant
Mean Arterial Pressure
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant
24 hours post-transplant
Pulmonary Arterial Pressure
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant
24 hours post-transplant
Vasoactive-Inotropic Score
Time Frame: 24 hours post-transplant

Vasoactive inotropic scores (VIS) are used to measure the amount of cardiovascular support a patient is receiving at certain time point, for our study it was at 24hrs post transplant. Below is the calculation for the score.

VIS = dopamine (µg/kg/min) + dobutamine (µg/kg/min) + 100 × epinephrine (µg/kg/min) + 100 × norepinephrine (µg/kg/min) + 10 × milrinone (µg/kg/min) + 10,000 × vasopressin (units/kg/min) + 50 × levosimendan (µg/kg/min).

The minimum score is 0 if the patient does not require any support but there really isn't a maximum score as theoretically patients can be on any range of support. Higher values indicates that a patient is requiring a higher cardiovascular support at 24 hrs.

VIS = dopamine (µg/kg/min) + dobutamine (µg/kg/min) + 100 × epinephrine (µg/kg/min) + 100 × norepinephrine (µg/kg/min) + 10 × milrinone (µg/kg/min) + 10,000 × vasopressin (units/kg/min) + 50 × levosimendan (µg/kg/min)

24 hours post-transplant
Hospital Length of Stay
Time Frame: within 30 days
Hospital Length of Stay
within 30 days
Acute Cellular Rejection
Time Frame: 30 days
30 days
1R
Time Frame: 30 days
1R is the rejection grade that referring to mild cellular rejection based on pathological assessment that is standardized by ISHLT. Generally, pathologist look for signs of mild cellular mediated damage (interstitial/perivascular inflammation) using special stains. Only participants with acute cellular rejection were assessed for this Outcome Measure
30 days
Antibody Mediated Rejection
Time Frame: 30 days
30 days
pAMR 1
Time Frame: 30 days
pAMR1 is the rejection grade that referring to mild antibody rejection based on pathological assessment that is standardized by ISHLT. Generally, pathologist look for signs of mild antibody-mediated damage using special stains to detect the presence of immune complexes.
30 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Fardad Esmailian, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 11, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 31, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

August 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 23, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

January 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 1, 2025

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00001753

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data that underlies the results reported in this article, after deidentification.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

1 year after the study is closed.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.