Spanish Heart Transplantation Registry. 24th official report of the Spanish Society of Cardiology Working Group on Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation (1984-2012).
OBJECTIVE
The present article reports the characteristics and results of heart transplantation in Spain since this therapeutic modality was first used in May 1984.


METHODS
We summarize the main features of recipients, donors, and surgical procedures, as well as the results of all heart transplantations performed in Spain until December 31, 2012.


RESULTS
A total of 247 heart transplantations were performed in 2012. The whole series consisted of 6775 procedures. Recent years have seen a progressive worsening in the clinical characteristics of recipients (34% aged over 60 years, 22% with severe kidney failure, 17% with insulin-dependent diabetes, 29% with previous heart surgery, 16% under mechanical ventilation) and donors (38% aged over 45 years, 26% with recipient: donor weight mismatch>20%), and in surgical conditions (29% of procedures at >4 h ischemia and 36% as emergency transplantations). The probability of survival at 1, 5, 10, and 15 years of follow-up was 78%, 67%, 53%, and 38%, respectively. These results have remained stable since 1995.


CONCLUSIONS
In recent years, the number of heart transplantations/year in Spain has remained stable at around 250. Despite the worsening of recipient and donor clinical characteristics and of time-to-surgery, the results in terms of mortality have remained stable and compare favorably with those of other countries.
Registro Español de Trasplante Cardiaco, Sección de Insuficiencia Cardiaca y Trasplante Cardiaco, Sociedad Española de Cardiología, Madrid, Spain; Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain. Electronic address: cargvf@gmail.com.
Francisco
F
González-Vílchez
Servicio de Cardiología, Clínica Puerta de Hierro, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
Manuel
M
Gómez-Bueno
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain.
Luis
L
Almenar
Servicio de Cardiología, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain.
María G
MG
Crespo-Leiro
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofía, Córdoba, Spain.
José M
JM
Arizón
Servicio de Cardiología (Adultos), Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
Manuel
M
Martínez-Sellés
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain.
Juan
J
Delgado
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.
Eulalia
E
Roig
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla, Spain.
Ernesto
E
Lage
Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Nicolás
N
Manito
D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012086:Reoperation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013030:Spain; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014019:Tissue Donors
Heart transplantation; RETC; Registro; Registry; Spanish Heart Transplantation Registry; Supervivencia; Survival; Trasplante cardiaco