Adult Combined Heart-Liver Transplantation: The United States Experience
Sophoclis P. Alexopoulos, Wei Wu, Ioannis A. Ziogas, Lea Matsuoka, Muhammad A. Rauf, Manhal Izzy, Roman Perri, Kelly Schlendorf, Jonathan N. Menachem, Ashish S. Shah
Abstract
Background: We aimed to review the indications and outcomes of adults undergoing combined heart-liver transplantation (CHLT) in the US using national registry data. Methods: Adult (≥18 years) CHLT recipients in the United Network for Organ Sharing database were included (09/1987–09/2020; era 1 = 1989–2000, era 2 = 2001–2010, era 3 = 2011–2020). Survival analysis was conducted by means of Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox regression. Results: We identified 369 adults receiving CHLT between 12/1989–08/2020. The number of adult CHLT recipients (R 2 = 0.75, p < 0.001) and centers performing CHLT (R 2 = 0.80, p < 0.001) have increased over the study period. The most common cardiac diagnosis in the first two eras was restrictive/infiltrative cardiomyopathy, while the most common in era 3 was congenital heart disease ( p = 0.03). The 1-, 3-, and 5-years patient survival was 86.8, 80.1, and 77.9%, respectively. In multivariable analysis, recipient diabetes [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.23–4.48], CHLT between 1989-2000 compared with 2011–2020 (aHR = 5.00, 95% CI: 1.13–22.26), and sequential-liver first CHLT compared with sequential-heart first CHLT (aHR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.15–5.18) were associated with increased risk of mortality. Higher left ventricular ejection fraction was associated with decreased risk of mortality (aHR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.92–0.99). Conclusion: CHLT is being increasingly performed with evolving indications. Excellent outcomes can be achieved with multidisciplinary patient and donor selection and surgical planning.