Richmond, Va. – The OPTN Board of Directors, at its meeting June 10, approved new geographic areas to match heart and vascularized composite allograft (VCA) transplant candidates with available organs from deceased donors. Both systems will now be based on distance from the donor hospital to the transplant hospital, replacing fixed and irregular donation service

Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity following heart transplantation. Our study aimed to determine the feasibility of measuring cardiac biomarkers in the donor heart directly after preservation and use as predictors for PGD.

The new French allocation system based on the candidate risk score (CRS) considered donor-recipient matching and implemented nationwide donor heart sharing. In candidates for whom the CRS did not predict accurately waitlist mortality score exceptions can be requested. This study aimed to describe the heart allocation modalities and donor-recipient matching since implementation of the new

Improved utilization of donor hearts would benefit chronic heart failure patients awaiting transplant. Limitations to cardiac allograft preservation include ischemic time, donor organ quality, and accurate graft assessment. We hypothesized that human hearts declined for transplant may be resuscitated after varied ischemic times. The unique studies performed within the Visible Heart® Laboratory for over two

Ex situ heart perfusion (ESHP) is a novel method for preservation of the donated heart in a semi-physiologic state and provides the opportunity to evaluate pre-transplant function. Because of the well-described extraordinary metabolic requirements of the heart, efficient metabolic support is critical for optimal preservation of function and viability. Our aim was to determine changes