A gift of life, not immortality: Evaluation of a strategy of heart transplant listing in the older patient with advanced heart failure
Recommended Citation
Cascino TM, Ling C, Likosky DS, Pagani FD, and Cowger J. A gift of life, not immortality: Evaluation of a strategy of heart transplant listing in the older patient with advanced heart failure. J Heart Lung Transplant 2024.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-4-2024
Publication Title
The Journal of heart and lung transplantation
Abstract
Patients 65 years of age or older represent the fastest-growing demographic group added to the U.S. heart transplant (HT) list. While post-HT outcomes appear acceptable, immortal time bias is introduced if adverse outcomes that occur while waiting for HT are not considered. Recent durable left ventricular assist device (dLVAD) technological innovations have engendered the question of whether this patient subgroup would achieve equivalent survival from a strategy of primary dLVAD implant as opposed to HT listing. We identified adults ≥65 years of age listed for HT between 2018 and 2021, excluding persons with dLVAD support and/or multiorgan listing. Among 1,176 patients, 2-year survival from HT listing was 78.4% ± 1.2%, similar to the 71% to 75% reported in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Intermacs National Database for older adults. Linkage of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients with STS Intermacs would enable comparative effectiveness analyses of surgical heart failure therapeutic strategies in high-risk patient cohorts.
PubMed ID
39642950
ePublication
ePub ahead of print
