Ventricular Assist Device Technology and Black-White Disparities on the Heart Transplant Wait List

Heart transplantation is the definitive treatment for end-stage heart failure. Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are a continually improving technology that extends life for some candidates on the heart transplant waiting list. Research Questions: Our objective is to compare Black-White differences in LVAD implantation and heart transplant outcomes during a period of technological innovation when the pulsatile flow LVAD was largely replaced by the continuous flow LVAD between 1999-2014.

We used transplant registry data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (N = 5,550) to identify Black and White patients with heart failure who used an LVAD as a bridge-to-transplant (BTT). Using logistic regression, we compared Black-White differences in access to newer LVAD technology and timing of implantation relative to wait listing for heart transplantation. We used competing-risks event history models to predict transplant outcomes across race, LVAD type, and timing of LVAD implantation.

Black and White candidates were equally likely to receive newer continuous flow LVADs, but Black candidates received LVADs later in the disease course (i.e. after transplant listing). This later timing of technological intervention contributed to poorer wait list outcomes among black transplant candidates, including lower likelihood of receiving a heart transplant and greater likelihood of being removed from the wait list due to worsening health.

Delayed LVAD implantation is more common among Black patients and is associated with poorer transplant outcomes.