Early outcomes of cardiac transplantation in adult patients with congenital heart disease and potential strategies for improvement

Long-term outcomes after heart transplantation in adult patients with univentricular versus biventricular congenital heart disease

OBJECTIVES

Heart transplantation (HT) is the only life-extending therapy in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) and end-stage heart failure. HT is considered at high risk in complex CHD given the anatomical complexity and past medical history. Little is known about long-term outcomes after HT in these patients. We aimed to evaluate early and long-term outcomes after HT in adult patients with univentricular versus biventricular CHD.

METHODS

This multicentre retrospective cohort study included all adult CHD patients who underwent HT between 1988 and 2021 in 3 tertiary centres. Factors associated with early (<30 days) and conditional long-term survival were assessed in the entire cohort.

RESULTS

Over a mean follow-up of 10.1 ± 7.8 years, 149 patients were included, of whom 55 (36.9%) had univentricular CHD. Sixty-four patients died during follow-up including 47 deaths before discharge from hospital. In multivariable analysis, univentricular physiology and female recipient gender were independently associated with a higher risk of early mortality (odds ratio 2.99; 95% confidence interval [1.33-6.74] and odds ratio 2.76; 95% confidence interval [1.23-6.20], respectively). For patients who survived the early period, conditional long-term survival was excellent for both groups and was not different between 2 groups (P = 0.764).

CONCLUSIONS

Adult CHD patients have a high incidence of overall mortality due to a high rate of early mortality. Univentricular physiology was associated with a significant increased risk of early death compared to biventricular physiology. However, late mortality was excellent and no longer different between the 2 physiologies.

Survival After Cardiac Transplantation in Adults With Single-Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease

BACKGROUND

Without large-scale analyses of adults with single-ventricle congenital heart disease (CHD) undergoing heart transplantation, little evidence exists to guide listing practices and patient counseling.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to evaluate survival after heart transplantation in adults with single and biventricular CHD and compare it to that of non-CHD transplant recipients.

METHODS

In this 15-year (2005-2020) retrospective analysis, outcome-blinded investigators used probability-linkage to merge the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample and Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data sets.

RESULTS

Of 382 adult (≥18 years of age) heart transplant recipients with CHD, 185 (48%) had single-ventricle physiology. Compared to biventricular CHD, single-ventricle patients showed significantly reduced survival at 1 (80% vs 91%; HR: 2.50; 95% CI: 1.40-4.49; P = 0.002) and 10 years (54% vs 71%; HR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.38-3.18; P < 0.001). Among patients who survived the first post-transplantation year, biventricular CHD patients exhibited similar 10-year survival as single-ventricle patients, except for those with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (79% vs 71%; HR: 1.58; 95% CI: 0.85-2.92; P = 0.15). Additionally, biventricular CHD transplant recipients showed significantly better 10-year conditional survival compared to their non-CHD counterparts (79% vs 68%; HR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.59-0.90; P = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Among adult CHD transplant recipients, single-ventricle physiology correlated with higher short-term mortality. However, 10-year conditional survival was similar for biventricular and most single-ventricle CHD patients, and notably better for biventricular CHD patients compared to non-CHD heart transplant recipients. These findings have significant implications towards patient selection and listing strategies, easing concerns related to heart transplantation in adults with CHD and destigmatizing most subtypes of single-ventricle CHD.

Adult Congenital Heart Disease: Current Early Expectations After Cardiac Transplantation

BACKGROUND

Early mortality has plagued the otherwise good outcomes of heart transplantation in patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD), but perioperative care is improving. This study sought to identify risk factors for 1-year mortality currently and examine the results of patients without those risk factors compared with patients who did not have ACHD (nACHD).

METHODS

The United Network of Organ Sharing database was searched for all adult (>17 years of age) heart transplant recipients from 2000 to 2018. They were divided into an early era and a late era. A multivariate analysis identified risk factors for 1-year mortality in the late era. Patients without these risk factors were compared with the nACHD group by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 495 patients with ACHD were identified from 2000 to 2008, and 666 were identified from 2009 to 2018. The recent era had better 1-year survival (P <.001) and overall survival (P = .003) than did the era from 2000 to 2008. Patients with ACHD were different from the nACHD population in age (37 years vs 57 years), body mass index greater than 25 kg/m² (45% vs 66%), incidence of renal dysfunction (23% vs 28%) and liver dysfunction (29% vs 23%), sensitization (38% vs 29%), and ischemic times (3.5 hours vs 3.1 hours). Multivariate analysis identified body mass index greater than 25 kg/m² (hazard ratio [HR], 1.79), renal dysfunction (HR, 1.85), liver dysfunction (HR, 1.69), and longer ischemic time (HR, 1.46) as risk factors for early mortality. Patients with only 1 of the first 3 categorical risk factors had 1-year survival comparable to that reported in patients with nACHD.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with ACHD had better early and long-term outcomes in the recent era. When only 1 of 3 pretransplant risk factors for early mortality was present, patients had survival equal to that of nACHD patients and perhaps better long-term survival.