Language

English

Publication Date

8-1-2025

Journal

JHLT Open

DOI

10.1016/j.jhlto.2025.100312

PMID

40606293

PMCID

PMC12221459

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

6-2-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Background: In 2018, changes in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocation system led to a shift in practices, making durable left ventricular assist devices less desirable as a bridge to transplantation compared to temporary mechanical circulatory support. This study compares the composite outcome of waitlist mortality and delisting incidence at 1 year between these two support types.

Methods: All actively listed adult patients on mechanical circulatory support listed for heart transplantation under the current UNOS system from October 2018 to October 2021 were included, excluding those with right ventricular devices, biventricular devices, total artificial hearts, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenators. The primary outcome was the composite of waitlist mortality and delisting due to clinical deterioration at 1 year. Survival analysis was conducted using Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox regression.

Results: A total of 4,569 patients were included, with 1,877 on temporary mechanical circulatory support and 2,692 on left ventricular assist devices. Propensity-score matching was performed on 660 patients divided into two groups. The event rate was lower in the left ventricular assist device group compared to the temporary mechanical circulatory support group (15.9% vs 35.2%, p < 0.001). Temporary mechanical circulatory support had a significantly higher multivariable hazard ratio (HR) for outcome events (HR 3.37, p < 0.001). The HeartMate 3 (HM3) had the best outcomes compared to all other device types.

Conclusion: In this propensity-score-matched analysis, durable mechanical circulatory support had better outcomes than temporary mechanical circulatory support. HM3 had the lowest risk of composite outcomes.

Keywords

Heart transplantation, Mechanical circulatory support, UNOS allocation system, Waitlist mortality, Propensity score-matching

Published Open-Access

yes

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.