A heart transplant is one of modern medicine’s most amazing procedures. But to get this life-saving surgery, you must first qualify for it.
Unfortunately, many patients are turned down for a transplant by hospitals with strict criteria that determine who can and cannot receive a transplant. Sometimes patients are told that they are too old or too sick to be transplanted. Other times it’s something in their medical or personal history that disqualifies them.
At Temple, we don’t believe in a “one-size-fits-all” approach to transplantation. Our goal as heart transplant doctors is to make heart transplants more available to patients who need them, especially those in end-stage heart failure who have no other treatment option.
Broadening Our Heart Transplant Criteria
It’s a sad reality that, without a heart transplant or a mechanical heart pump, most patients with end-stage heart failure will live no longer than 6 months. Patients should not be automatically shut out because they didn't meet a certain set of criteria. That's why we recently broadened our heart transplant criteria to help more patients qualify for transplant.
Instead of having strict cutoffs due to age or medical condition, we evaluate each patient individually and make decisions based on their unique set of circumstances. The changes we made are not arbitrary. Instead, they are based on best practices and our decades of experience in the field of heart transplantation.
Today at Temple, we will consider patients for heart transplant who:
- Are up to age 74 (other centers only accept patients up to age 70)
- Have a BMI up to 38
- Have abstained from alcohol, smoking and marijuana for a time period based on level of dependence
- Have an elevated panel-reactive antibody (PRA)
- Have a history of Mantle radiation
- Have had cancer in the last 5 years
- Are HIV positive
- Have elevated pulmonary vascular resistance
- Have a history of multiple sternotomies
And with expanded criteria to help more patients survive end-stage heart failure, our survival rates remain strong. According to the January 2024 Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients report, Temple's 3-year survival rate is 86.07%.
Excellence in Evaluating Donor Hearts
In addition to expanding our transplant criteria, we evaluate donor hearts differently than other heart transplant centers. We look very closely at all donor hearts offered to us and are willing to take higher-risk organs because we know that we have the experience to make them work.
Fastest 'List to Transplant' Center in the Region
We also transplant patients more quickly at Temple. On average, 77.9% of our patients receive a new heart within 1 year of being on the waiting list, compared to 61.1% nationally. That makes Temple the fastest "list to transplant" center in the Philadelphia region and one of the fastest in the nation.
Helpful Resources
Read on for more information about heart transplantation at Temple:
- How to get on the heart transplant waiting list
- Read this Q&A with Dr. Yoshiya Toyoda about our heart transplant outcomes
- Learn about our Advanced Heart Failure Program
- Celebrating Temple heart failure survivors
Editor's Note: This blog was updated on Feb. 22, 2024, to reflect the latest heart transplant data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients report.
