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Review
. 2022 Feb;24(2):119-130.
doi: 10.1007/s11886-021-01631-y. Epub 2022 Feb 18.

Heart Transplant Donor Selection Guidelines: Review and Recommendations

Shyama Sathianathan  1 , Geetha Bhat  2
Affiliations
Review

Heart Transplant Donor Selection Guidelines: Review and Recommendations

Shyama Sathianathan et al. Curr Cardiol Rep. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose of review: The rate of heart transplants, while steadily increasing, is insufficient to meet the growing list of transplant candidates. Marginal donors expand the donor pool. However, criteria used to identify donors greatly vary by institution.

Recent findings: The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplant (ISHLT) heart transplant report of 2020 reinforced the importance of donor selection criteria on heart transplant outcomes. Existing literature challenges and reinforces the report's findings. Newer methods, such as donation after circulatory death (DCD), also recontextualize existing donor selection criteria. Transplant prediction models from international databases are poor predictors of individual centers' outcome. Further study is needed to understand associations among donor risk factors, and update the methods used for donor heart selection. In this review, we examine the current literature on extended donor criteria and recommend a model for donor selection.

Keywords: Donation after circulatory death; Donor acceptance; Donor selection; Extended criteria cardiac transplant; Heart transplant; Marginal donors.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as:
• Of importance
•• Of major importance
    1. ••Khush KK, Potena L, Cherikh WS, Chambers DC, Harhay MO, Hayes Jr D, et al. International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. The International Thoracic Organ Transplant Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: 37th adult heart transplantation report-2020; focus on deceased donor characteristics. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2020;39(10):1003–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healun.2020.07.010 . Most recent ISHLT report documenting the international implications of extended donor criteria and guidelines for donor selection.
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