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Rat Heterotopic Abdominal Heart/Single-lung Transplantation in a Volume-loaded Configuration
Published on: May 29, 2015
Institutional Case-Volume and Mortality After Heart Transplantation
Karam Nam1, Eun Jin Jang2, Ga Hee Kim3
1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine.
Lower heart transplant (HT) case volumes in hospitals correlate with higher in-hospital and long-term mortality. This suggests a need for minimum volume requirements to improve patient outcomes and resource allocation in HT procedures.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Transplantation Surgery
- Health Services Research
Background:
- A known inverse relationship exists between institutional case-volume and mortality for complex, high-risk surgeries.
- Understanding this relationship is crucial for optimizing patient outcomes in heart transplantation (HT).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of hospital heart transplantation (HT) case-volume on patient outcomes within the Korean population.
- To analyze the association between institutional HT volume and both in-hospital and long-term mortality.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of adult HT procedures in Korea from 2007-2016 using National Health Insurance Service data.
- Hospitals were categorized into low-, medium-, and high-volume centers based on HT frequency.
- Statistical analysis of in-hospital and long-term mortality rates in relation to hospital volume.
Main Results:
- A total of 833 adult HTs were performed across 17 centers.
- In-hospital mortality rates were 3.7% (high-volume), 10.1% (medium-volume), and 18.6% (low-volume).
- Lower volume centers (medium and low) demonstrated significantly increased in-hospital mortality risk and worse long-term survival up to 10 years.
Conclusions:
- Lower institutional case-volume is significantly associated with increased in-hospital and long-term mortality after heart transplantation (HT).
- Implementing a minimum case-volume mandate for HT-performing hospitals may be necessary to enhance patient outcomes and optimize resource allocation.
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