A successful 4S heart transplantation

Abstract

Donor recipient matching is paramount to successful heart transplantation. The presence of allosensitization decreases the transplant candidate's donor pool, prolongs the time to transplantation, and increases the post-transplant mortality and morbidity. Various strategies are applied to reduce antibody loads with mixed results being reported. The development of a new listing criterion by the Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network (CCTN) for sensitized patients may overcome this problem by increasing the odds that a given recipient receives an organ from an appropriately matched donor. The success of this case gives hope to patients and provides insights into the treatment of sensitized patients.