Prognosis of patients with severe congestive heart failure referred to the cardiac transplant program. Osaka University Cardiac Transplant Program.

In any program for cardiac transplantation, appropriate recipient selection is critically important. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognosis of 42 patients with severe cardiac dysfunction who were referred to the Patient Referral Committee of the Osaka University Cardiac Transplant Program from August 1990 to July 1993. All of the patient profiles and clinical data were presented and discussed in the Committee Conference. The Committee classified the patients into three groups according to the following criteria: Class A; 14 patients judged to have a medical indication for heart transplantation, Class B; 7 patients with possible indications which required reevaluation for a definite indication after further intensive medical treatments, and Class C; 21 patients who did not have indications for heart transplantation or who required further clinical examinations and/or medical treatments before a final judgment. Twelve of the 14 Class A patients had a history of NYHA functional class IV and ejection fractions were 25% or less in all of the patients but one (18.5 +/- 1.7%). Six patients in Class A had a history of ventricular tachycardia. The one-year survival rate of Class A patients was 60%, and only 28% survived for 28 months. One patient underwent successful heart transplantation in the United States. If we assume that this patient would have died within a year without heart transplantation, the estimated one-year survival rate would fall to 48%, which is comparable to the survival rate of patients who have been accepted for transplant, but are being treated medically, in Western countries.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)