The echocardiographic risk assessment of donor hearts for consideration of transplantation

Pediatric patients waiting for heart transplantation experience the highest waiting list mortality compared to all other age groups and across all solid organ waiting lists. A significant number of potential donor hearts go unutilized every year due to “marginal” quality. Echocardiography is one of the single most important tools for the examination of donor heart function. Echocardiography can identify donor hearts that can be used successfully in transplantation despite the presence of clinical factors that could lead to exclusion.
Source: Progress in Pediatric Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research