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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Reluctance to accept LVH for transplant was due to "worry because these hearts are not as compliant," he said. "If a heart is thick it cannot relax enough to receive blood, so you have what we call diastolic dysfunction."
However, based on the results thus far, "we will continue to use them," Trento said. "Some people say that if you follow up patients with these hearts, they don't behave as they should. But they do. We have noticed that when we do an echocardiogram on follow-up, the heart sort of tends to regress toward normal."
The Cedars-Sinai results could well affect medical practice, Trento said. "In this environment where the donor pool is not optimal, I think this paper will move people to take hearts with moderate LVH," he said.
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NewYork-Presbyterian's Stewart agreed. His hospital has the largest heart transplant program in the country, averaging over 100 operations per year.
While he was encouraged by the Cedar-Sinai study, he added that, "of course before we completely change our practice we would want to see more data."
Any change in the program would be driven by the same shortage of donor hearts that motivated the Cedars-Sinai cardiologists, Stewart said. "Right now we're limited by the available list of donors," he said. For someone who has been on the list for a transplant for long enough to arouse concern, "I would be more apt to take a heart with LVH based on this article," he said.
"Normally we would say we don't accept donors with LVH," Stewart said. "Now we can try it and see what our own experience is."
More information
The intricacies of heart transplant are explained at the U.S. Library of Medicine.
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