RESULTS
Among the 299 donor offers studied (Figure 1), 137 (45.8%) were
accepted for transplant and the remainder refused. However, only 59
heart transplants were performed (only 43% of the accepted donors and
19.7% of the total number of donors offered). The gap between accepted
donors and not performance of transplant was related to unavailability
or inadequacy of logistics for long-distance procurement. Presumably, 78
heart donors (26.4%) that were potentially in good condition were not
used because of logistics, a non-medical reason. That particular
information certainly had an negative impact on our heart transplant
waiting list on the same time frame. Between January 2012 and December
2014, 113 recipients were listed. Among them, 18 (15.9%) died on the
waiting list without a heart transplant.
Reasons for donor refusal (Table 2) were non-medical in 129 (53.7%) and
medical in 111 (46.3%). Another major non-medical reason was lack of
basic complementary tests to determine donor heart’s condition in 36
(15%). Among the medical reasons for donor refusal, the most prevalent
ones were severe hemodynamic instability in 46 (19.2%) and ventricular
dysfunction determined by echocardiography in 35 (14.6%).