Older hearts suitable for transplantation
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Long-term outcomes after transplantation of hearts from donors aged 50 years or older are broadly comparable to those achieved with hearts from younger donors, according to Canadian researchers.
“This is good news for people who are waiting for a heart transplant—knowing more than 20 percent of patients die waiting for a heart,” Dr. Shaoha Wang told Reuters Health.
In the March/April issue of the Journal of Cardiac Surgery, Wang and colleagues at the University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton report on their analysis of all 338 adult heart transplants performed at their institution over a 15-year period.
Of these, 284 involved hearts from donors aged less than 50 years and the remaining 54 received hearts from older donors.
There were no between-group differences in the average length of time spent in the intensive care unit and in the hospital, or in the number of episodes of threatened rejection of the transplanted heart.
However, the mortality rate within 30 days after the operation was significantly higher in those with hearts from older rather than younger donors (17 percent versus 7 percent).
Nevertheless, after one year, survival rates were similar from a statistical standpoint (74 percent versus 87 percent). This was also true at 5 years (69 percent versus 76 percent) and at 10 years (58 percent versus 59 percent).
Despite the higher number of deaths linked to older donor hearts around the time of the transplant, Wang concluded, “We could save more lives if we could expand the donor pool by using older donors - with good long-term results.”
SOURCE: Journal of Cardiac Surgery, March/April 2006.
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