The SENTINEL study
Chief Investigator
PROFESSOR HENK GIELEConsultant Plastic Surgeon |
Oxford Research in Plastic surgery and Hand surgery Innovation Collaboration (ORPHIC)
What are we trying to find out?
The aim of the SENTINEL study is to find out whether there is a lower risk of organ rejection in lung transplant, if a small patch of skin (called a sentinel skin flap) from the same donor is transplanted at the same time as the lung.
The skin will be transplanted onto the under-surface of the lower arm and will allow a visual way to easily check for any episodes of rejection.
How Sentinel skin flaps may help to detect lung rejection
The skin flap, because it is always visible, can show if lung rejection is occurring by showing a red rash. Currently, rejection can only be shown by doing a biopsy of the transplanted lung.
What will happen in the study?
We will collect some information about you whilst you are on the waiting list and ask you to fill in some questionnaires.
When you are offered a lung transplant, we will confirm your participation. You will then be put into one of two groups (randomised), one of the groups will receive a skin flap with their lung transplant and one will not.
Once you have had your transplant, we will collect data and some samples from you for 12 months.
More details are in the full information pack which will be sent to patients on the waiting list by their clinical team.