Is there an optimal organ acceptance rate for pediatric heart transplantation: "A sweet spot"?

Despite a limited supply of donors, potential donor hearts are often declined for subjective concerns regarding organ quality. This analysis will investigate the relationship between donor heart AR and patient outcome at pediatric transplant centers. The UNOS database was used to identify all match runs for pediatric candidates (age < 18 years) from 2008 through March 2015 in which a heart offer was ultimately placed. Centers which received ≥10 offers/y were included (10 634 offers, 38 centers). Transplant centers were stratified based on their AR: low (<20%, n = 13), medium (20%-40%, n = 16), or high (>40%, n = 9). Low AR centers experienced worse negative WL outcome compared with medium (P = .022) and high (P = .004) AR centers. Low AR centers had similar post-transplant graft survival to medium (P = .311) or high (P = .393) AR centers; however, medium AR centers had better post-transplant graft survival than high AR centers (P = .037). E-F survival from listing regardless of transplant was worse for low AR centers compared with medium (P < .001) or high (P = .001) AR centers. Low AR centers experience worse WL outcomes without improvement in post-transplant outcomes. High AR centers experience higher post-transplant graft failure than medium AR centers. AR of 20%-40% appears to have optimal WL and post-transplant outcomes.