title: Pediatric heart transplantation: current clinical review.
abstract: Heart failure has been recognized as a major public health problem. Its incidence and prevalence is increasing and imposes substantial burden on the health care system. Despite much progress in development of many new drugs and innovations in palliative surgical strategy, nontransplant cardiac surgical procedures and the use of mechanical assist devices, pediatric heart transplantation remains the best treatment option for patients with end-stage heart failure. So far, more than 6000 pediatric heart transplantations have been performed worldwide. This article reviews some clinical aspects of pediatric heart transplantation, including the history, indications and contraindications, donor evaluation and recipient management, surgical techniques, risk factors of mortality, and survival of pediatric heart transplantation. The short- and long-term outcomes of pediatric heart transplantation are encouraging. However, the lack of donor hearts still hampers its clinical application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center, NRW/University Hospital of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. ystjang@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Yanto Sandy
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Tjang
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stenlund
authors.forename: Gero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tenderich
authors.forename: Lech
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hornik
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Körfer
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000601:surgery*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D014019:Tissue Donors; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods