Pediatric Transplantation

We find that renal function remains stable over a median follow-up time of 6 years for first-time repeat heart transplant recipients. Major risk factors for more advanced renal dysfunction being female sex and number of acute kidney injuries between first-time heart transplant and first-time repeat heart transplant.

Although pediatric organ donation represents a small proportion of overall organ donation, children and adolescents make a significant contribution to the pool of donated organs. In this study 252 solid organs were collected from children and adolescent. Two hundred and two recipients benefited from 62 pediatric organ donors, with a recipient/donor ratio of 3.3.

In this single-center study of 177 pediatric heart transplant recipients, 7% developed acute kidney injury requiring dialysis (AKI-D), with increased cardiopulmonary bypass time and higher weight at transplant associated with higher odds of AKI-D. AKI-D was associated with greater mortality during initial hospitalization and lower kidney failure-free survival.

Investigating pulmonary vein stenosis following heart transplantation in children, this is the largest study of its kind that examines the prevalence, risk factors, and interventions for post-transplant PVS at two large transplant centers.

Intellectual disability does not impact long-term outcomes after bilateral lung transplantation and should not be a contraindication to transplantation on the basis of inferior graft survival.

Examining social determinants of health in pediatric ventricular assist device recipients, the study identifies race, rather than childhood opportunity or insurance status, as a significant factor influencing outcomes.

Heart transplantation in the neonatal period is associated with favorable long-term outcomes. Neonates do not have a significant survival advantage over older infants following heart transplantation. Early mortality following transplantation is higher in neonates compared to older infants, but conditional 1-year survival is higher for the newborn age group.

This single-center retrospective study investigated changes in nutritional status in children who underwent heart transplantation. The proportion of patients with overweight/obesity increased following transplantation and overweight/obesity was associated with the incidence of metabolic syndrome.

In the current era, VADs reduce waitlist mortality in children who wait ≥90 days for a heart transplant, but there may be differential effects based on race, size, and VAD type.