Wait list deaths among heart transplant candidates have dramatically decreased since a 2006 Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policy change in the sequence of heart allocation, according to early data shared at the OPTN/United Network for Organ Sharing Board of Directors Meeting on Feb. 21.
"There have not been major changes in the makeup of the heart waiting list in the periods before or after the policy change," said Dr. David Vega, chair of the OPTN/UNOS Thoracic Organ Transplantation Committee, in a prepared statement. "But we have seen a significant decrease in waiting list mortality among the two most medically urgent groups of heart candidates -- Status ...