Association of Heart Transplant Volume with Presence of Lung Transplant Programs and Heart Transplant's SRTR One-year Survival Rating

BACKGROUND

 Several factors affect heart transplant (HTx) and lung transplant (LTx) program outcomes. Variabilities in institutional and community characteristics have been shown to influence survival. At present, half of HTx centers in the United States do not possess a concomitant LTx program. This study sought to better understand the characteristics of HTx with and without LTx programs.

METHODS

 Nationwide transplant data were collected from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) in August 2020. SRTR star rating ranges from tier 1 (lowest) to tier 5 (highest). HTx volumes and SRTR star ratings for survival were compared between the centers with heart-only (H0) programs and the centers with heart-lung (HL) programs.

RESULTS

 SRTR star ratings were available for 117 transplant centers with one or more HTx reported. The median number of HTx performed over 1 year was 16 (interquartile range [IQR]: 2-29). The number of HL centers (n = 67, 57.3%) were comparable to H0 centers (n = 50, 42.7%; p = 0.14). The HTx volume at the HL centers (28 [IQR: 17-41]) exceeded the HTx volume at the H0 centers (13 [IQR: 9-23]; p < 0.01), but were comparable to the LTx volume at the HL centers (31 [IQR: 16-46]; p = 0.25). The median HTx one-year survival rating was 3 (IQR: 2-4) at both the H0 and HL centers (p = 0.85). The HTx and LTx volumes were positively associated with the respective 1-year survivals (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

 While the presence of an LTx program is not directly associated with HTx survival, it has a positive association with the HTx volume. The HTx and LTx volumes are positively associated with the 1-year survival.

Cardiothoracic Anesthesia and Critical Care in the United Kingdom (UK) Part 1: Some Insights Into the History and Development

This review is intended to highlight some of the historic events that contributed to the development of thoracic and cardiac anesthesia and surgery in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The aim of this first of two parts is to concentrate on the development of techniques, facilities, and pharmacology that allowed progress and advancement in patient management that were developed primarily in the UK. However, progress usually requires input from a wide variety of sources of knowledge, and cardiothoracic practice is no exception. Reference is, thus, made to sources outside of the UK that guided, influenced, or inspired changes in practice, such as the techniques of operating on the heart and great vessels in war casualties, developed by Dr. Dwight Harken, or the demonstration of the Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt by Alfred Blalock. In addition to advances in medical equipment, such as computed tomography, the UK contributed greatly to pharmacologic interventions that were unique at the time in such varied areas as nonflammable volatile anesthetic agents, heart failure treatments, and neuromuscular blocking agents for both cardiac and thoracic surgical practice.

Clinical outcome of donor heart with prolonged cold ischemic time: A single-center study

OBJECTIVES

Due to the shortage of donor pool, there has been a need for organs with prolonged cold ischemic time. This study aims to evaluate the short-term results of different cold ischemic times in orthotopic heart transplantation based on a single-center experience in China.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed outcomes of the heart transplant patients from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017. The recipient population was divided into four groups. Group 1: cold ischemic time greater than 8 hours; group 2: the cold ischemic time between 6 and 8 hours; group 3: the cold ischemic time between 4 and 6 hours; and group 4: cold ischemic time less than 4 hours. Efficacy indicators included after transplant survival, infection rate, rejection rate, and complications.

RESULTS

The four groups have similar donor and recipient baseline characteristics (P > .05). Cold ischemic time greater than 8 hours had more cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time (127.62 ± 50.23 minutes; P = .003), CPB-assist time (86.14 ± 36.74 minutes; P = .047), and higher intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) usage rate postoperatively (47.36%; P = .010). Cold ischemic time greater than 8 hours witnessed a relatively higher mortality rate compared with the other three groups (P = .115, P =  .078, and P =  .114) during the 2-year follow-up. Survival rates of 1 and 2 years for the four groups were 78.95%, 87.13%, 87.32%, and 87.50% and 68.42%, 85.14%, 85.92%, and 83.93%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Cold ischemic time less than 8 hours can be reasonably applied to expand the heart transplantation donor pool. Cold ischemic time greater than 8 hours might result in longer CPB time, CPB-assist time, and higher IABP usage postoperatively. It might also affect the in-hospital and 2-years survival rate.