CARDIAC TRANSPLANT WAITING LISTS, DONOR SHORTAGE AND RETRANSPLANTATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR USING DONOR HEARTS

Cardiac transplantation is established as the standard therapy for end-stage heart failure.1 The shortage of donors is the limiting factor in heart transplantation.2 Much emphasis has been placed on increasing donor referrals3 and appropriate management of potential donors to widen the donor pool.4 An alternative approach is to examine potential cardiac transplant recipients and identify patient subgroups with poor survival. We assessed the impact of donor shortage on the mortality of patients awaiting operation. © 1991.