Heart Care Info - Heart Disease Prevention & Treatment

Relative roles of heart transplantation and long-term mechanical circulatory support in contemporary management of advanced heart failure--a critical appraisal 10 ...

MC Deng, A Ardehali, R Shemin, A Hickey... - European Journal of ..., 2011 - EACTS* Corresponding author. Address: Advanced Heart Failure/Mechanical Support/Heart Transplant, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, 100 Medical Plaza Drive, Suite 630, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.(Email: mdeng ...

The number of patients with heart failure (HF) is growing. In the United States and Europe alone, with >700 million inhabitants, there are more than seven million patients with heart failure. In the United States, heart failure is a major public health problem affecting over 5.8 million men and women with over 670,000 newly diagnosed patients each year. HF contributes to over 250,000 deaths a year, results in 2.4–3.5 million hospitalizations a year, 12–15 million outpatient office visits a year and total costs estimated at 39.2 billion dollars a year [1]. The prevalence of advanced heart failure (Ad HF), constituting between 1 and 10% of the heart failure population, is estimated to total between 70,000 and 700,000 patients in the US. From a regional heart failure care perspective, for example, in the Greater Los Angeles area with >10,000,000 population, the prevalence of heart failure is estimated at >100,000 people, and those with Ad HF >10,000 people. Ad HF carries a prognosis similar to cancer. After publication of the REMATCH study [9], while heart transplantation donor organ numbers remain constant worldwide [2], the relative contribution of long-term mechanical circulatory support devices (MCS Ds), either as destination or alternative to transplantation MCSD (ATT) or long-term bridge to transplantation (BTT), is increasing. This Editorial addresses the changing relationship between heart transplantation (H Tx) and mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD) ...