Heart transplantation

Since February 1999, organ transplantation from brain-dead donors has started in Japan. During the more than 3 years since, 77 patients have received organ transplantations from 19 donors (heart in 13, lung in 10, liver in 17, pancreas-kidney in 6, pancreas alone in 1, small intestine in 1, and kidney in 29). As of April 2002, 116 patients were registered with the Japan Organ Transplant Network as heart transplant (HTx) candidates, and 13 and 8 underwent HTx in Japan and abroad, respectively, while 32 died while on the waiting list. Ten of 13 HTx recipients were implanted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAS; Novacor in 2, TCI-IP in 1, and NCVC in 7). All 13 HTx recipients were alive at the time of writing. Two had several rejection episodes that were treated successfully. Three had infection episodes (pneumonia in 2 and CMV gastritis in 1). Eleven had been released from hospital, and 8 had returned to work.