Spanish Heart Transplant Registry. 29th Official Report of the Spanish Society of Cardiology Working Group on Heart Failure

Introduction and objectives

The present report updates the characteristics and results of heart transplantation in Spain, mainly focused in the 2008-2017 period.

Methods

We describe the recipient and donor characteristics, surgical procedures, and outcomes of heart transplants performed in 2017. The 2017 data were compared with those obtained from 2008 to 2016.

Results

A total of 304 cardiac transplants were performed in 2017. Between 1984 and 2017, 8173 procedures were performed, 2689 of them after 2008. Significant temporal trends were observed in recipient characteristics (lower pulmonary vascular resistance, lower use of mechanical ventilation, and a higher percentage of diabetic patients and those with previous cardiac surgery), donor characteristics (older donor age and a higher percentage of female donors and those with a prior cardiac arrest) and procedures (lower ischemia time). In 2017, 27% of patients were transplanted after undergoing mechanical ventricular assistance (P < .001 for trend). In the last decade, there was a trend to better survival.

Conclusions

Around 300 transplants per year were performed in Spain in the last decade. There was a significant increase in the use of pretransplant mechanical circulatory support and a trend to improved survival.