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Updated: Jul 26, 2026
Heterotopic Cervical Heart Transplantation in Mice
Published on: August 25, 2015
Cardiac transplantation and concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting: our experiences in 11 cases
Insights
Using hearts from older donors, even those needing coronary artery bypass grafting, can safely expand the donor pool for heart transplantation. This approach offers a viable option for patients with end-stage cardiomyopathy.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Transplantation Surgery
- Organ Donation
Background:
- Donor heart shortage impacts transplantation accessibility.
- Older donor hearts and those requiring coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are often underutilized.
- Previous studies indicate comparable outcomes for younger and older donor hearts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the safety and efficacy of using donor hearts that required concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) during orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT).
- To assess the outcomes of patients receiving OHT with CABG from donor hearts that might otherwise have been rejected.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 11 patients undergoing OHT with concomitant CABG between September 2002 and November 2011.
- Analysis of donor heart characteristics, surgical procedures (single or double CABG), and patient postoperative course.
- Long-term follow-up ranging from 3 to 128 months post-transplantation.
Main Results:
- All 11 donor hearts, which would likely have been rejected, were successfully transplanted.
- Nine patients received single CABG and two received double CABG concurrently with OHT.
- All patients experienced an uneventful postoperative recovery, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach.
Conclusions:
- Donor hearts requiring CABG represent a valuable subgroup that can be effectively utilized in heart transplantation.
- Careful matching of donor hearts (including those needing CABG) to recipient age and condition is crucial for successful outcomes.
- This strategy can help alleviate the donor heart shortage and improve access to life-saving transplantation.
Introduction:
The shortage of donor hearts for transplantation could be alleviated by including the hearts of older donors. Previous literature revealed similar early and medium-term survival outcomes compared with those of younger donors. This study presents our experience with patients who underwent orthotopic heart transplantation and concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting at our institution.
Methods:
We present our experience with 11 patients with end-stage cardiomyopathy (8 men and 3 women) undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation and concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting from September 2002 to November 2011 at our institute.
Results:
All 11 donor organs would otherwise have been rejected, depriving potential recipients of organ transplantation. Two patients received concurrent 2-coronary-artery bypass, and the other 9 patients received concurrent single-coronary-artery bypass during orthotopic heart transplantation. All patients had an uneventful postoperative course, with follow-up completed 3 to 128 months after cardiac transplantation and concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.
Conclusions:
Our experiences suggest that donor hearts requiring coronary artery bypass grafting, which form a small but significant donor subgroup, can be used effectively and safely when matched to the recipients' age and medical condition.
