Extended donor age in cardiac transplantation.

Approximately one third of brain-dead organ donors are above the age of 35 years. These donors have been used routinely for heart transplantation because the risks of compromised early graft function and potentially accelerated graft atherosclerosis remained nuclear. The increasing length of the waiting list and a 30% death rate of those on the waiting list for donor organs in our heart transplant program led to acceptance of donor hearts up to 54 years of age. Of a total number of 233 donor hearts, 74 were between 36 and 54 years old (group 2). These hearts were compared for early and chronic graft function with a group of 159 patients who received hearts from donors aged 1-35 years (group 1). All but three group 2 hearts were accepted without coronary angiography. Early postoperative graft function was sufficient in all 72 group 2 patients, whereas in group 1, early graft failure in nine (5.7%) patients led to death or required retransplantation. Forty-one patients in group 2 and 79 patients in group 1 were restudied at annual intervals between 1 and 4 years postoperatively by complete cardiac angiography. Mean late postoperative left and right ventricular ejection fractions were normal in both groups. Graft atherosclerosis was found in seven (8.9%) patients in group 1 and in four (9.8%) patients in group 2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)