Several studies have indicated that survival after heart transplantation is affected by donor-recipient sex matching. In most studies, male recipients of a female heart have the poorest survival ...rates, whereas survival of female recipients is not affected by donor sex. The purpose of the current study was to determine the long-term outcomes of recipients at a large single center on uniform immunosuppression therapy in the current era.
We reviewed the records of 857 patients transplanted at a single center between 1994 and 2008. Patients were divided into 4 groups based on donor-recipient sex: male donor to male recipient (male/male, n = 506); female donor to female recipient (female/female, n = 113); male donor to female recipient (male/female, n = 106); and female donor to male recipient (female/male, n = 132). Ten-year outcomes were assessed for: survival; freedom from cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV); and freedom from non-fatal major adverse cardiac events (NF-MACE).
Ten-year actuarial survival was comparable in male/male and female/female groups, at 69% and 71%, respectively (p > 0.05). Compared with the male/male group, 10-year actuarial survival was significantly lower in the sex-mismatch groups: 58% in the male/female group (p = 0.03) and 59% in the female/male group (p = 0.01). There was no significant difference in 10-year freedom from CAV or NF-MACE among the groups.
Heart transplant patients with donor-recipient sex mismatch have lower survival, extending the results of prior studies to suggest that sex mismatch is undesirable in female, as well as male, recipients. This may impact donor selection and recipient wait time to transplantation.
Our insights into different system levels of mechanisms by left ventricular assist device support are increasing and suggest a complex regulatory system of overlapping biological processes. To ...develop novel decision-making strategies and patient selection criteria, heart failure and reverse cardiac remodeling should be conceptualized and explored by a multifaceted research strategy of transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of reverse cardiac remodeling is in its early stages, and comprehensive reconstruction of the underlying networks is necessary.
Objective Early injury is associated with the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy in heart transplantation. We examined whether adult heart transplant recipients surviving primary graft ...dysfunction were more susceptible to the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy than their nonprimary graft dysfunction counterparts. Methods A total of 857 patients who underwent heart transplantation between January 1994 and December 2008 at our institution were reviewed. Primary graft dysfunction was defined as the need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, open chest, or intra-aortic balloon pump placement within 72 hours of transplantation. Cardiac allograft vasculopathy was defined as ≥50% coronary artery stenosis in any vessel. Allograft survival was defined by patient death or need for retransplantation. Results Completed follow-up was available for 32 patients in the primary graft dysfunction group and 701 patients in the nonprimary graft dysfunction group. Mean recipient ages (56 years vs 55 years, respectively; P = .50) and ischemic times (220 minutes vs 208 minutes, respectively; P = .35) were similar. Donor age was significantly higher in the primary graft dysfunction group (38 years vs 32 years, P = .02). Five-year survivals for the primary graft dysfunction and nonprimary graft dysfunction groups were 46.9% versus 78.9% ( P < .001). Conditional 5-year survivals in patients surviving the first year were 78.9% and 88.3% for the primary graft dysfunction and nonprimary graft dysfunction groups, respectively ( P = .18). Within a 30-day postoperative period, there were more deaths in the primary graft dysfunction group (28.1% vs 2.3%, P < .0001) and more retransplants (6.25% vs 0%, P = .002). Of the patients surviving past 30 days, only 2 (8.7%) of the primary graft dysfunction patients developed cardiac allograft vasculopathy versus 144 (21.0%) in the nonprimary graft dysfunction group ( P < .001). Conclusions Primary graft dysfunction was associated with lower 30-day, 1-year, and 5-year allograft survival rates. Surviving patients, however, did not show increased tendency toward cardiac allograft vasculopathy development.
Critical care: American Board of Thoracic Surgery update Baumgartner, William A., MD; Calhoon, John H., MD; Shemin, Richard J., MD ...
Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery/The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery/The journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery,
06/2013, Letnik:
145, Številka:
6
Journal Article
The American Board of Thoracic Surgery: Update Calhoon, John H., MD; Shemin, Richard J., MD; Allen, Mark S., MD ...
Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery/The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery/The journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery,
05/2013, Letnik:
145, Številka:
5
Journal Article
An 82-year-old woman with severe aortic stenosis and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 20% was referred for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
Mechanical circulatory support is a highly effective technology to maintain organ perfusion in patients with cardiogenic shock as a bridge to transplantation. Although implantation of a left ...ventricular assist device alone is often the preferred configuration, patients with biventricular failure and significant end-organ dysfunction often require biventricular assistance.
Between January 2000 and September 2008, 80 patients with severe biventricular failure were accepted for heart transplantation and received a pneumatic biventricular assist devices as a bridge to transplant. Patients were retrospectively divided into 2 groups: those successfully bridged to transplant (Group A) and those who died (Group B). Patients were also divided into 2 periods of implantation: Group X (2000-2005) and Group Y (2006-2008, which used a multidiscipline selection process).
Overall success rate to transplantation was 71.3%, with Group Y demonstrating an 82% success to transplant rate vs 63% in Group X. One-year actuarial survival after transplant was 89% compared with 92% in patients without a ventricular assist device. There were no statistically significant laboratory parameters between Groups A and B identifying potential risk factors for poor outcome.
Biventricular assist device therapy represents an effective and reliable means of supporting selected Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support profile 1 patients as a bridge to transplantation, with excellent success to transplant rates and post-transplant survival.
Heart transplantation in the elderly is increasingly common. In the mid-1990s, 25% of recipients in our program were >62 years of age. We evaluated outcomes from one institution with the hypothesis ...that older recipients may be at higher risk of major complications associated with immunosuppression.
We analyzed results for 182 patients aged 62 to 75 years (mean +/- SD: 66.3 +/- 11.4 years) who underwent heart transplantation between January 1995 and July 2001 at a single institution. They were compared with a control group of 348 contemporaneous adult recipients aged 18 to 62 years (mean +/- SD: 48.2 +/- 11.4 years). All recipients in this consecutive cohort had a follow-up of at least at least 5 years. End-points studied were Kaplan-Meier survival, freedom from dialysis and freedom from malignancy at 100 months. Follow-up was 100% at 100 months.
At 100 months, survival for the elderly was 55% (46 remaining at risk) and 63% (102 remaining at risk) for controls (p = 0.051, log-rank test). Re-transplant and dialysis, but not recipient age or malignancy, were predictive of survival by regression analysis (p = 0.003, p < 0.001, p = 0.53 and p = 0.84, respectively). Freedom from malignancy at 100 months was 68% for the elderly and 95% for controls (p < 0.001). Age predicted malignancy by regression analysis (p < 0.001). At 100 months, freedom from dialysis was 81% for the elderly and 87% for controls (p = 0.005). Pre-operative creatinine, but not age, was predictive of need for dialysis (p = 0.003 and p = 0.47, respectively).
Although long-term survival of older heart transplant recipients is acceptable, it is significantly lower than in young recipients. The increased risk of renal failure and malignancy among elderly patients likely influences the difference in survival observed between the two groups. Pre-operative renal function warrants careful consideration. As ventricular assist device technology improves, it may be used to complement heart transplantation to avoid immunosuppression and its side effect of malignancy in older patients with advanced heart failure.