Heart transplantation continues to be the "gold standard" treatment for end-stage heart failure, according to a new study which found that a large number of patients now live 20 years or more post surgery.
A research team led by Hector Rodriguez Cetina Biefer and Markus J Wilhelm, from the University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland, examined long-term outcomes in 133 patients from their institution who underwent heart transplantation from 1985 to 1991.
Among those patients, 74 (55.6 per cent) survived at least 20 years post-transplantation. The average age at transplant for the 20-year survivors was 43.6 years.
Major causes of death in non-survivors were graft rejection (21 per cent), malignancy (21 per cent), cardiac allograft vasculopathy (an accelerated form of coronary artery disease; 14.5 per cent), and infections (14.5 per cent).
"A remarkable number of patients survived 20 years or more following heart transplantation, confirming the procedure as the 'gold standard' for end-stage heart failure, at least for the time being," said Wilhelm.
"With continued improvements in immunosuppressive management in the coming years, we expect to see transplant patients living longer, healthier lives. It is still uncertain if mechanical circulatory support devices will be able to compete with heart transplantation in the future," Wilhelm said.
"This study underscores the excellent long-term survival that can be achieved, even among patients who received a transplant in the early 1990s," said James Kirklin, from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
"The fact that over half of patients were alive 20 years later should provide hope and the expectation that a new heart for most patients really is a 'new lease on life.' If patients take care of themselves, they can expect to have many years of good quality of life," said Kirklin.
The study was published in journal The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
