Brightsurf Science News and Current Science News Events

 
Email a Friend Send to a friend
Printer Friendly Print Heart transplants benefit only the sickest patients

Heart transplants benefit only the sickest patients

September 01, 2000

Heart transplantation improves survival only in patients with the worst heart
failure and therefore at the highest risk of death while on the waiting list,
according to a study in this week?s BMJ. This questions the current view in the
medical community that transplantation improves the chances of survival for all
patients who reach an advanced stage of heart failure.


Deng and colleagues identified all 889 adult patients listed for a first heart
transplant in Germany in 1997. Patients were grouped according to disease
severity ? low, medium and high risk of dying on the waiting list ? and a heart
failure survival score was calculated for each patient. The authors found that
only patients in the high-risk group had a temporary survival benefit from
transplantation, whereas the medium and low risk groups showed no such benefit.


These findings challenge the current role of transplantation in heart failure
management, say the authors. They suggest that transplantation should be limited
to the sickest patients and that low or medium risk patients should instead be
managed with organ saving treatments.


Sharon Hunt, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University in
California, reiterates these views in an accompanying editorial. She believes
that this study will help to drive forward organ allocation schemes that give
donor hearts to those most likely to benefit most from them. It may also
intensify the pursuit of alternatives to transplantation, she adds.



Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU)




Science Research Departments



Earth Science

Alternative Energy  |   Anthropology and Archaeology  |   Earthquakes and Volcanoes  |   Environment and Nature News  |   Global Warming  |   High-Energy and Particle Physics  |   Ozone Hole  |   Scientists Slow Light  |   Tsunami


Space Science

Astronomy and Space News  |   Black Holes  |   Chandra X-Ray Observatory  |   Extrasolar Planets  |   Hubble Telescope  |   International Space Station  |   Jupiter Galileo Mission  |   Jupiter Cassini Mission Flyby  |   Mars Exploration  |   Mars Odyssey 2001  |   Mars Global Surveyor  |   Mars Polar Lander  |   Mars Climate Orbiter  |   Mars Pathfinder  |   Meteors and Asteroids  |   Mir Space Station  |   NEAR Asteroid Probe Mission  |   Pluto Planet Debate |   Search for Extraterrestrial Life  |   Space Shuttle Program  |   Space Shuttle Mission: STS-102  |   Space Weather


Life Science

Animal News  |   Biotechnology and Genetics  |   Brain Research  |   Human Cloning  |   Dinosaur and Fossil Discoveries  |   Endangered Species  |   Gene Therapy  |   Genetically Modified Food  |   Stem Cell Research  |   Whales and Whaling
Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
by Stephenie Meyer


Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies ... Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It
by Dick Morris, Eileen Mcgann


Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
by Stephenie Meyer


Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin


What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception
by Scott McClellan


Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
by Stephenie Meyer


My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
by Jill Bolte Taylor


New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
by Stephenie Meyer


Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)
by Christopher Paolini


The Post-American World
by Fareed Zakaria


© 2008 BrightSurf.com