It has recently been shown that donor hearts can be retrieved from a donor after cardiac death (DCD), resuscitated, assessed ex situ using normothermic perfusion, and successfully transplanted into low-risk recipients. However, the utility of DCD transplantation in high-risk recipients remains undetermined. Here, we report two patients with long-term left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support who were successfully bridged to heart transplantation (HTx) using DCD hearts despite an adverse donor/recipient risk profile.
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D. García-Saez, C.T. Bowles, P.N. Mohite, B. Zych, O. Maunz, A.F. Popov, A. Hurtado, B. Raj, S.L. Rahman-Haley, N.R. Banner. Heart transplantation following Donor CIrculatory Death in patients bridged to transplant with implantable left ventricular assist devices. Doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2016.05.025