The dilemma of too few hearts.
The number of patients being listed for heart transplantation continues to escalate. Despite a variety of attempts to increase organ donation, the number of available donor hearts remains unchanged. This imbalance of supply and demand creates medical rationing of donor organs. When the success of heart transplantation became apparent, selection criteria was relaxed, further increasing the disparity between the numbers of donor hearts and potential recipients. Decreasing the demand by tightening the selection criteria is the most reasonable solution at this time.
Long
N D
ND
Mid America Heart Institute, Saint Luke's Hospital, Kansas City, Mo., USA.
Borkon
A M
AM
D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration; D018579:Patient Selection; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States; D014850:Waiting Lists