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. 2024 Jun;11(2):110-119.
doi: 10.1007/s40472-024-00436-6. Epub 2024 Apr 23.

Clinical Application of Frailty in the Evaluation of Solid Organ Transplant Patients

Arielle Cimeno  1 , Maria Lucia L Madariaga  1 , Arpita Basu  2 , Dani Pezzuto  1 , Ronald Parsons  3 , Megan Huisingh-Scheetz  4
Affiliations

Clinical Application of Frailty in the Evaluation of Solid Organ Transplant Patients

Arielle Cimeno et al. Curr Transplant Rep. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Frailty is increasingly recognized as an important predictor of mortality and morbidity in patients across various medical subspecialties. The purpose of this review is to assess how frailty and markers of functional status are viewed within the field of transplant and incorporated into patient evaluations.

Recent findings: Frailty has been shown to influence patient and graft outcomes and many centers incorporate some form of frailty assessment during transplant candidacy evaluation. However, the optimal methods for assessing frailty have not been defined for solid organ transplant populations, and there is no standard approach among different centers. Subjective measures of functional status are recorded in national registries at the time of waitlisting but are largely not used when determining waitlist priority.

Summary: This review focuses on currently used tools for assessing frailty in transplant patients and consensus recommendations for future application of frailty in this population.

Keywords: Frailty; Solid organ transplant; Transplant candidacy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Organ distribution [Internet]. UNOS. [cited 2024 Mar 4]. Available from: https://unos.org/policy/organ-distribution/

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