Stanford Medicine’s new study reveals inconsistencies in the U.S. pediatric heart transplant waitlist, suggesting that the sickest patients are not always prioritized.
A new study by Stanford Medicine highlights flaws in the U.S. pediatric heart transplant waitlist, showing that the current system fails to prioritize the sickest children.
The study suggests a shift towards a more nuanced approach, using a range of health indicators to assign risk scores and improve survival rates. According to a new study led by Stanford Medicine experts, the method used across the United States to wait-list children for heart transplants does not consistently rank the sickest patients first. The study will be published today (August 5) in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology .
Need for System Reform Adding nuance to the wait-list system by accounting for more health factors could reduce children’s risk of dying while they await donor hearts, according to the study’s authors. A revision to the way donor hearts are assigned is already in process . The study adds evidence for why it is needed, they said.
“Wait-list mortality, which is the chance that a child will die while awaiting transplant, is higher in pediatric heart transplant than for virtually any other organ or age group,” said the study’s senior author, Christopher Almond, MD, professor of pediatrics. Almond cares for children before and after heart transplantation at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. “.