A fair way of donating hearts for transplantation

doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7260.526

BMJ 2000;321:526 ( 2 September )

Editorials

A fair way of donating hearts for transplantation

Survival rates improve only in patients with the worst heart failure

Papers p 540

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the early years after the introduction of heart transplantation the supply of donor hearts increased yearly as greaternumbers of transplant centres came into existence and more patientswith end stage heart disease were listed as transplant candidates.This parallel expansion of both donor and recipient numbers ceasedaround 1990, and since then the number of cardiac donors has plateauedat about 3500 a year worldwide while the number of patients listedto receive a heart transplant increases annually. ¹ ² Thisincrease in the number of patients waiting for a heart transplanthas occurred despite major improvements in medical treatment forheart failure that have been introduced during thistime.

This probably reflects the fact that most of the advances in the treatment of heart failure have been essentially palliative.It may also reflect a belief in the medical community that hearttransplantation improves the chances of survival for patientswho reach . . . [Full text of this article]

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