Mechanical Circulatory Support Before And After Heart Transplantation

Abstract

Objective To investigate the impact on survival of pre and post heart transplant (HT) use of mechanical circulatory support (MCS).Methods Data were collected retrospectively. ECMO was the MCS used to treat severe early graft failure (EGF). Log-rank test was used to compare Kaplan-Meier survival curves. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results 147 HT were done from 2004 to October 2016. The average male and female recipient’s age was 50±13 years and 47±14 years, respectively. Percentage of use of MCS and IABP to bridge patients to HT were 16% and 7%, respectively. MCS included: 8 HeartWare LVAD (5.4%), 6 ECMO (4.1%), 6 Levitronix BiVAD (4.1%), 2 Thoratec LVAD (1.4%) and 2 Levitronix LVAD (1.4%). Hospital mortality was 14.3% (21pt). 1-year survival was 82% and 5-year survival was 75%. Overall pre-transplant MCS was not correlated to worse post-transplant prognosis, p=0.822. Left sided MCS showed a worse survival compared to the no-MCS group (p=0.045) and to the ECMO and BiVAD (p=0.02). Severe primary EGF strongly impact the early mortality after heart transplantation (p<0.001). Excluding the 90 day mortality, the survival between patients with EGF and those without is similar (p=0.874).The risk of mortality increased almost 2 fold according each hour of ischemic time [OR=1.7, 95% IC, 1.1-2.7, p=0.017].Conclusions ECMO because of severe EGF remains associated with worse post-transplant outcomes however, patients discharged after severe EGF, showed a long term survival comparable to those without EGF. A LVAD before HT seems to affect the hospital mortality.