HEART-BC: Heart Transplant Evaluation Using Advanced Rejection Monitoring Tools - British Columbia (HEART-BC)

September 8, 2026 updated by: Nima Moghaddam, Cardiology Research UBC
Evaluate whether integration of HeartCare (AlloMap + AlloSure) into routine post-transplant surveillance reduces the number of invasive endomyocardial biopsies (EMBx) in the first year post-transplant

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Detailed Description

While HeartCare has demonstrated efficacy in large U.S.-based registries and has been incorporated into routine post-transplant surveillance at many U.S. centres, its feasibility and clinical utility within a Canadian tertiary heart transplant program have not been prospectively evaluated. The University of Toronto has utilized HeartCare within its transplant program for several years, supported through charitable funding; however, to our knowledge, there has been no prospective evaluation or published analysis of its implementation, impact on biopsy utilization, or healthcare resource use in the Canadian setting. This represents an important evidence gap that the proposed study is uniquely positioned to address.

BC's centralised, single-centre transplant programme at SPH - with a defined annual transplant volume and established relationships with CareDx - provides an ideal setting for a feasibility study. Demonstrating successful integration of HeartCare into routine BC transplant surveillance will provide the evidence base to support broader adoption, justify provincial funding, and contribute to the generalisability of HeartCare's clinical benefits in a Canadian context.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

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

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Heart transplant recipients

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult (age ≥ 18 years) at the time of transplant
  • Recipient of a heart transplant at St. Paul's Hospital
  • Within 1 year of heart transplantation
  • Followed at the Post-Transplant Clinic in Vancouver, BC
  • Clinically stable at the time of scheduled HeartCare surveillance (no active hemodynamic compromise or clinical suspicion of rejection at study visit)
  • Able to provide written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to provide informed consent
  • High immunological risk at transplant: positive flow crossmatch at time of transplant, or donor-specific antibodies (DSA) detected at time of transplant
  • Multi-organ transplant recipient (e.g., heart-kidney, heart-liver)
  • Clinical instability: hemodynamic instability, sepsis, or active severe wound infection at the time of a scheduled surveillance visit
  • Prior severe acute cellular rejection (≥ 3R ISHLT grade) or prior antibody-mediated rejection (pAMR ≥ 2) during the study period
  • EMBx clinically indicated for suspected rejection at the time of a scheduled HeartCare visit (these recipients remain in the study but their visit is classified as a clinically-indicated EMBx, not a HeartCare visit)

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Heart Transplant Recipients
Prospective Heart Transplant Recipients

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of avoided endomyocardial biopsies
Time Frame: 12 Months
Number of avoided endomyocardial biopsies because of HeartCare test integration
12 Months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Cardiology Research UBC

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 (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 8, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 14, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 14, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 8, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H26-02794

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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.

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