Morbidity and Mortality in Adult Fontan Patients After Heart or Combined Heart-Liver Transplantation

Abstract

Background: An increasing number of adult Fontan patients require heart transplantation (HT) or combined heart-liver transplant (CHLT); however, data regarding outcomes and optimal referral time remain limited.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to define survivorship post-HT/CHLT and predictors of post-transplant mortality, including timing of referral, in the adult Fontan population.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of adult Fontan patients who underwent HT or CHLT across 15 centers in the United States and Canada was performed. Inclusion criteria included the following: 1) Fontan; 2) HT/CHLT referral; and 3) age ≥16 years at the time of referral. Date of "failing" Fontan was defined as the earliest of the following: worsening fluid retention, new ascites, refractory arrhythmia, "failing Fontan" diagnosis by treating cardiologist, or admission for heart failure.

Results: A total of 131 patients underwent transplant, including 40 CHLT, from 1995 to 2021 with a median post-transplant follow-up time of 1.6 years (Q1 0.35 years, Q3 4.3 years). Survival was 79% at 1 year and 66% at 5 years. Survival differed by decade of transplantation and was 87% at 1 year and 76% at 5 years after 2010. Time from Fontan failure to evaluation (HR/year: 1.23 [95% CI: 1.11-1.36]; P < 0.001) and markers of failure, including NYHA functional class IV (HR: 2.29 [95% CI: 1.10-5.28]; P = 0.050), lower extremity varicosities (HR: 3.92 [95% CI: 1.68-9.14]; P = 0.002), and venovenous collaterals (HR: 2.70 [95% CI: 1.17-6.20]; P = 0.019), were associated with decreased post-transplant survival at 1 year in a bivariate model that included transplant decade.

Conclusions: In our multicenter cohort, post-transplant survival improved over time. Late referral after Fontan failure and markers of failing Fontan physiology, including worse functional status, lower extremity varicosities, and venovenous collaterals, were associated with post-transplant mortality.

Keywords: Fontan-associated liver disease; adult Fontan; combined heart-liver transplant; heart transplant; referral timing.