Ten-year results of the Oregon program with 295 consecutive heart transplants in the Pacific Northwest

The Oregon Cardiac Transplant Program provides a regional service. Since December 4, 1985, 284 patients, including 14 children, from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii, underwent 295 orthotopic heart transplantation procedures at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Eleven patients underwent transplantations twice.

Detailed, up-to-date follow-up data were available on all patients. All patients have been followed up prospectively for transplant-related complications.

The most common recipient diagnoses were coronary artery disease (50%) or idiopathic cardiomyopathy (33%). The mean age of the recipients was 48 +/- 15 years (range, 3 months to 68 years). Donor hearts were retrieved from a procurement area of a 1,500-mile radius that involved Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, California, and Canada. The mean donor age was 28 +/- 11 years and the donor heart ischemia time was 180 +/- 56 minutes. The median recipient waiting time was 75 days. Operative mortality was 6%. One-year, 5-year, and 10-year actuarial patient survival rates are 86 +/- 2%, 74 +/- 3%, and 59 +/- 5%, respectively. The majority of survivors are in very good functional status.

Now, more than 10 years into its existence, the Oregon Heart Transplant Program has fulfilled its goal of providing a most effective treatment option for patients with end-stage heart disease in the region.