title: [Changes in etiology, cause of death, survival, and mortality rates in cardiac transplant patients from 1998 to 2011].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We retrospectively analyzed changes in heart failure etiology, causes of death, mortality and survival rates in cardiac transplant patients from 1998 to 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 144 patients (112 men, 32 women; mean age 40.2±14.3 years) underwent cardiac transplantation between February 1998 and January 2011. The patients were divided into two groups; hence, 63 patients (group 1; mean age 42.5±12.6 years) receiving transplantation up to January 2006, and 81 patients (group 2; mean age 38.4±15.3 years) receiving transplantation from 2006 to 2011. In the latter period, a ventricular assist device was used in 17 patients before transplantation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dilated cardiomyopathy was the main cause of heart transplantation in both groups (71.4% vs. 74.1%). Overall mortality, in-hospital mortality (<30 days), and late mortality (≥30 days) rates were 39.6% (n=57), 13.9% (n=20), and 25.7% (n=37), respectively. Survival rates for 1, 2, 5, and 10 years were 76%, 69%, 59%, and 46%, respectively. The second group had significantly lower rates of overall mortality and late mortality compared to group 1 (29.6% vs. 52.4%, p=0.005; 16.0% vs. 38.1%, p=0.002, respectively), whereas early mortality rates were similar. Survival rates were also higher in the second group, but these differences did not reach significance (1-year, 76.1% vs. 74.6%; 2-year, 73.0% vs. 65.1%; 5-year, 63.8% vs. 55.6%; log rank 0.33). In both groups, infections (30.3% vs. 33.3%), right ventricular failure (12.1% vs. 29.2%), and sudden cardiac death (15.2% vs. 16.7%) were the leading causes of death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show that overall and late mortality rates show significant decreases in cardiac transplant patients from 1998 to 2011.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Medicine Faculty of Ege University, İzmir , Turkey. drgungorhasan@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Güngör
authors.forename: Sanem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nalbantgil
authors.forename: Emrah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oğuz
authors.forename: Mehmet Fatih
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ayık
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoghi
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ertugay
authors.forename: Sultan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karakula
authors.forename: Cağatay
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Engin
authors.forename: Tahir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yağdı
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozbaran
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology