EXPLANATION


The mortality of children awaiting heart transplantation is higher than any other solid organ transplant. Infants have the highest rate of waitlist mortality (25-30%), and children demonstrate a significantly higher risk of death compared to adults. This is related to the limited availability of donor organs and recipient factors such as age, weight, diagnosis, clinical status, and limited options for mechanical circulatory support.


Donor characteristics that are associated with refusal for organ donation include gender, blood-type, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) “high risk” criteria, reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and inotrope usage. Historically, there has been a decrease in the number of organs accepted for transplantation when a donor undergoes CPR. Among pediatric cardiac transplant physicians/providers, there is also considerable variability in the evaluation of transplant donors, with no standardization of criteria for donor candidacy.


A retrospective study by Kulshrestha et al from 2001 to 2021 using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database compared the acceptance rate of donor hearts according to 1) whether the donor received CPR and 2) the duration of CPR. More than five thousand heart transplant recipients under the age of 18 years old were identified and survival analysis was performed to identify the duration of CPR which resulted in decreased post-transplant survival. A duration of CPR greater than 55 minutes in the donor resulted in a statistically significant decrease in post-transplant survival versus duration of CPR less than 55 minutes (mean survival 11.3 vs 10.2 years, p=0.03). During the study period, 51% of donors received CPR before organ procurement. Acceptance rate of the heart was lower when the donor received CPR as compared to no CPR (54 vs 66%, p less than 0.001) and decreased as the duration of CPR increased. Among the recipient cohort, 52% received a heart from a donor requiring CPR. With an inflection point in survival identified, the recipient cohort was divided into three groups: no donor CPR, CPR ≤ 55 minutes, and CPR greater than 55 minutes. Differences between the groups were identified and further analysis was performed to control for confounding variables. There was no difference in graft failure in recipients who received a heart transplant from a donor NOT requiring CPR as compared to recipients with a donor that had CPR ≤ 55 minutes. CPR duration greater than 55 minutes predicted worse post-transplant survival (HR 1.4 [1.03-1.90]) relative to no CPR, but CPR duration less than or equal to 55 minutes did not predict worsened survival (HR 1.02 [0.90-1.17]) relative to no CPR. Other significant variables affecting post-transplant survival include donor age, race of the recipient, renal dysfunction and dialysis in the recipient, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the recipient, and congenital heart disease in the recipient.


REFERENCES


Almond CS, Thiagarajan RR, Piercey GE, et al. Waiting list mortality among children listed for heart transplantation in the United States. Circulation . 2009;119:717-27.


Dipchand AI. Current state of pediatric cardi ac transplantation. Ann Cardiothorac Surg . 2018;7:31-55.


Godown J, Kirk R, Joong A, et al. Variability in donor selection among pediatric heart transplant providers: Results from an international survey. Pediatr Transplant . 2019;23:e13417.


Kulshrestha K, Greenberg JW, Guzman-Gomez AM, et al. Up to an hour of donor resuscitation does not affect pediatric heart transplantation survival. Ann Thorac Surg . Published online June 2023:S0003497523005696.