No elevated mortality risk with heart transplants donated after circulatory death

Patients with heart transplants involving donation after circulatory death have no detectable difference in survival compared with those with hearts donated after brain death, according to a study published in Circulation: Heart Failure.

Using data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry, the researchers identified adult heart transplant recipients from January 2019 to September 2021 and used propensity-score matching to compare 1-year mortality between patients with hearts donated after circulatory death and those with hearts donated after brain death. Read more in Healio.