Early experience in heart transplantation utilizing donors with HIV

The use of organs between donors and recipients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in solid organ transplantation is an area of growing interest. We conducted a single center observational study to compare early outcomes after heart transplantation (HTx) in HIV-positive recipients using HIV-positive or HIV-negative donors. Overall, 10 HIV-positive recipients underwent HTx, with 4 receiving HIV-positive and 6 receiving HIV-negative organs. At 6 months, both groups had similar survival (100% vs 100%, p = 1.00), episodes of rejection (0, 0-0.5 vs 0, 0-1, p = 0.69) and infection (0, 0.5-3 vs 1, 1-2, p = 0.25) per patient, HIV suppression with antiretroviral therapy (VL <25 copies/ml or undetectable: 100% vs 100%, p = 1.00) and donor derived cell free DNA (0.07, 0.05-0.10% vs 0.13, 0.12-0.15%, p = 0.11). These data provide early evidence supporting the feasibility of utilizing organs from donors with HIV for HTx in recipients with HIV.