title: Results of medium-term survival in patients undergoing cardiac transplantation: institutional experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The heart transplant became a consecrated therapy for patients with terminal heart failure, increasingly improving the survival.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify the medium-term results in patients undergoing cardiac transplantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive, documentary and retrospective study, using a quantitative approach, developed in a Unit of Transplant and Heart Failure, of a tertiary level public hospital, located in Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. The data were obtained from a sample of 188 patients (154 men and 34 women), submitted to the heart transplant, in the period from October 1997 to March 2011. There were calculated survival rates based on Kaplan-Meier methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were identified information about the patient's gender (male 81.91%), medical diagnosis which determined the heart transplantation (idiopathic cardiomyopathies 23.98%, ischemic 23.4% and Chagasic 17.02%). The median age of patients was 48 years old (interquartile range = 17.25 years) and the median observation period was 877 days. During this period, 78 patients died, resulting in survival ratios of 72%, 59% and 47% after 1, 5 and 9 years of cardiac transplantation, respectively. Younger patients had longer survival (P=0.0418).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The medium-term survival of patients undergoing cardiac transplantation is significant, especially for younger patients.
authors.forename: Ires Lopes
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Custódio
authors.forename: Francisca Elisângela Teixeira
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Marcos Venícios de Oliveira
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Viviane Martins da
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: João David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Santos Neto
authors.forename: Maria do Perpétuo Socorro
authors.initials: Mdo P
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Samya Coutinho de
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult