Impact of Center Donor Acceptance Patterns on Utilization of
Extended-Criteria Donors and Outcomes
Abstract
Background: This study investigated the impact of transplanting center
donor acceptance patterns on usage of extended-criteria donors (ECDs)
and posttransplant outcomes following orthotopic heart transplantation
(OHT). Methods: The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients was
queried to identify heart donor offers and adult, isolated OHT
recipients in the United States from 1/1/2013-10/17/2018. Centers were
stratified into 3 equal-size terciles based on donor heart acceptance
rates (<13.7%, 13.7%-20.2%, >20.2%). Overall
survival was compared between recipients of ECDs (≥40 years, left
ventricular ejection fraction <60%, distance ≥500 miles,
hepatitis B, hepatitis C or human immunodeficiency virus, or ≥50 offers)
and recipients of traditional-criteria donors, and among transplanting
terciles. Results: A total of 85,505 donor heart offers were made to 133
centers with 15,264 (17.9%) accepted for OHT. High-acceptance programs
(>20.2%) more frequently accepted donors with LVEF
<60%, HIV, HCV, and/or HBV, ≥50 offers, or distance
>500 miles from the transplanting center (each
p<0.001). Posttransplant survival was comparable across all
three terciles (p=0.11). One- and five-year survival were also similar
across terciles when examining recipients of all five ECD factors.
Acceptance tier and increasing acceptance rate were not found to have
any impact on mortality in multivariable modeling. Of ECD factors, only
age ≥40 years was found to have increased hazards for mortality (HR
1.33, 95% CI 1.22-1.46, p<0.001). Conclusions: Of recipients
of ECD hearts, outcomes are similar across center-acceptance terciles.
Educating less aggressive programs to increase donor acceptance and ECD
utilization may yield higher national rates of OHT without major impact
on outcomes.