Limitations of the study
This is a single-institution clinical cohort study of a relatively small
number of transplanted patients. The statistical power to determine
post-transplant differences in outcomes is limited, and it may be
subjected to chance. The calculation of long-distance donor scores is
compromised by the unavailability of echocardiography and coronary
angiograms. Posttransplant outcomes are worse than reported by the
International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation database, but
they are compatible with the Brazilian Transplant Registry. Reasons for
that were not the scope of this paper.