One heart retrieval method exhibited lower risk during donation after circulatory death, according to results from an international, multicenter study shared at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation annual meeting and published April 27 in JACC.
Researchers performed retrospective analysis on data from 20 heart transplant centers in the U.S., the U.K., Belgium and Spain whose patients underwent donation after circulatory death heart transplant through Jan. 1, 2023.
Here are five notes on the study:
- The study encompassed two heart retrieval methods, thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion and direct procurement and perfusion.
- Of the 504 donation after circulatory death heart transplants included in the study, survival at one year was 91% for taNRP and 88% for DPP.
- The incidence rate of severe primary graft dysfunction was 7.6% for taNRP and 19.2% for DPP within one year after transplantation.
- The incidence rate of biopsy-proven acute-cellular rejection was 13% for taNRP and 25% for DPP within one year after transplantation.
- “These results should be further investigated with randomized control trials,” authors of the study wrote.
Read the full study here.