Outcome of Heart Transplant Candidates Based on a High Volume Heart Transplant Center Experience in Iran.

Abstract

Background: The waiting list for heart transplants is a valuable data registry that would offer very useful information on the characteristics of patients who have various outcomes while waiting in the list.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to look at the prognosis of those waiting for heart transplants as well as the factors that increase mortality.

Methods: Advanced heart failure patients' demographic, clinical, hemodynamic, and echocardiographic results, as well as their prognosis, were retrieved from the national registry for heart transplantation between 2011 and 2018. The study population was defined and compared in four groups: 1) Death while awaiting HTX, 2) Death after HTX, 3) Alive without a transplant, 4) Transplanted and alive.

Results: The data of 207 patients [75% male, mean (SD) age of 34(10) years] were analyzed. The most common etiology of heart failure was idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. A total of 86 patients (41%) were successfully transplanted, with a median (IQR) time between listing and transplantation of 84 (30¬219) days, 54 patients (26.1%) were dead and 32% were still alive. The multivariate analysis showed right atrial pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, cardiac index, and systolic blood pressure at the time of listing as independent predictors of death.

Conclusion: The study on HTX waiting list is very useful for both allocation strategies and administrative planning for patients with advanced heart failure by development of accurate models and scoring systems using predictors of death in the waiting list.