Development of an Assay for Tacrolimus Blood Trough Measurement in Pediatric Heart Transplant Patients Using Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling (VAMS) and Stable-Labeled Isotope Dilution Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

All patients presenting for routine post-transplant care including, but not limited to: cardiac catheterization, cardiac biopsy, inpatient admission, or outpatient visits. A convenience sample of 25 inpatient samples will be collected for Aim 1. Although the assay developed by the MSCF will be validated for accuracy, the purpose of Aim 1 is to test "real world" application of the Mitra Microsampler tubes against the gold standard of blood collected by venipuncture in a controlled setting. To accomplish this, consecutive inpatient heart transplant patients will be enrolled. That sample will be collected at the same time (+/- 15 minutes) as a clinically-indicated, appropriately-timed venipuncture for measurement of a tacrolimus trough and prior to the subject taking tacrolimus so as to represent a trough.

Outpatient. A convenience sample of 25 outpatients collecting 1-2 samples will be collected for Aim 2. For those who agree to participate, the parent/patient will be taught by a member of the team on how to use the Microsampler to collect blood from a finger stick. They will be provided with a kit for collection of up to 2 samples and will also be provided with appropriate shipping materials to return samples to CCHMC. Participants will then be instructed to collect a sample in the Mitra Microsampler via fingerstick. In addition to the process of collecting the sample in Aim 2, appropriately-aged participants and/or families will be asked to fill out a brief survey regarding sample collection. This will include questions about the ease or difficulty of performing the steps and tolerability of the procedure relative to past experiences with values obtained by venipuncture.