Evaluating Heart Transplant Outcomes Using the SherpaPak Heart Storage System

The SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System (SCTS) is a novel hypothermic organ transport device which maintains an optimal temperature range of 4-8°C during donor heart transport. Its use in many major transplant centers has increased over the last several years. We retrospectively examined 120 heart transplant patients, 60 using SCTS and 60 using traditional cold storage on ice (TCS), at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) between June 2020 and June 2023. Baseline characteristics were comparable except there were less males in TCS versus SCTS (70% vs. 85%; p = 0.049) and less diabetics (23% vs. 47%; p = 0.07). The TCS group had significantly shorter ischemic times than the SCTS group (177 vs . 204 min; p = 0.008). On analysis, no statistically significant difference was noted in primary graft dysfunction (PGD; 12% vs. 15%; p = 0.59), total length of stay (LOS; 19 vs . 17 days; p = 0.061), 1 year all-cause mortality (12% vs . 8.4%; p = 0.196), and 1 year cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV; 58% vs . 63%, p = 0.333] between these two groups. Multivariate analysis also showed no significant difference in PGD and LOS between groups. We conclude that despite having longer ischemic times in the SCTS group, the post-transplant outcomes were comparable to TCS.