While survival after pediatric heart transplantation (pHT) has improved in the past few decades and mechanical circulatory support is increasingly used to bridge children to transplantation, waiting list deaths remain a stark reality. To increase the donor pool, strategies such as ABO-incompatible transplantation or donation after cardiac death (DCD) have been attempted.1,2 The real question
It’s not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters.Evander Holyfield, American professional boxer (1962-)
Heart transplantation is the definitive treatment for end-stage heart failure. A shortage of donor hearts forced transplant programs to accept older donors and longer ischemic times. Previous studies have suggested that administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or their conditioned medium (CM) protects the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). We hypothesized that the preservation of
Pediatric heart transplant waitlist mortality remains significant but allograft offer refusals are common and allografts continue to be discarded.
Traditionally, donor-recipient size match is assessed by body weight. We assessed the ability of 5 size match metrics – predicted heart mass (PHM), weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and body surface area (BSA) – to predict 1-year mortality after heart transplant and to assess the effect on size match on donor heart turn-down for
Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) represent a growing, albeit still small, proportion of heart transplant (HT) recipients (1, 2). These patients frequently present with complex anatomy and physiology, and atypical manifestations of cardiac failure. Despite being younger than other HT candidates, they have higher risk for adverse outcomes early after HT. This relates to
In response to a blistering critical comment to a donor lung allocation inequity lawsuit; HRSA Administrator George Sigounas determined that the Organ Procurement and Transplantation network has “not justified and cannot justify the use of donation service areas.” Now the OPTN/UNOS
The history of the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart – temporary (TAH-t; SynCardia Systems, LLC, Tuscon, AZ) is a fascinating medical tale of success, failure and perseverance that has highlighted the lives of many physicians, scientists and patients while episodically consuming the attention of the public. Although, perhaps not as dramatic as its first implantation in
Eighty five percent of congenital heart disease patients currently survive to adulthood due primarily to advancements in surgical treatments1. For these survivors with Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD), heart failure (HF) remains the leading cause of death2. Thus, the number of ACHD patients requiring heart transplantation (HT) continues to grow, and with this growth has