Abstract 15875: Waitlist Outcomes for Adults With Congenital Heart Disease Listed for Heart Transplantation in the United States
Background: Heart failure represents a final common pathway for many adult survivors with congenital heart disease (ACHD). Data assessing severity and management of heart failure are limited, and often heart transplantation is the only viable treatment option. The criteria used to determine priority status at the time of transplant listing, however, does not account for ACHD physiology. We investigated the differences in death or delisting due to clinical worsening in ACHD vs. non-ACHD candidates for heart transplantation. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of all patients listed for heart transplantation in the United States between 1999 and 2014 using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Patients were censored at the time of transplant or delisting due to improvement. Results: Among the 1,290 ACHD and 35,559 non-ACHD patients listed for heart transplantation, median age was 35 vs. 56 years and 62% vs. 76% were male, respectively. Waitlist outcomes for the full follow up time per initial listing status are shown in Figure 1. Of the patients who died or worsened, 57% were initially listed at the lowest priority status for ACHD compared to 40% for non-ACHD. In patients initially listed at status 1A, the 180-day actuarial probability of death or delisting due to worsening was 41% for ACHD vs. 29% for non-ACHD, p < 0.01; and for death alone was 29% vs. 21%, p = 0.05; respectively, Figure 2. Conclusion: ACHD candidates for heart transplantation in the United States are more frequently listed at the lowest priority status, and when listed at the highest priority status are more likely to die or be delisted due to clinical worsening compared to other candidates.