Introduction
According to the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation
(ISHLT), heart transplantations (HTx) are the ideal treatment for
patients with end-stage heart failure (EHF) refractory to medical
treatment (2). Currently, worldwide survival is favorable, 80% at one
year and 60% at five years, mainly due to the development and
improvement of immunosuppressive treatment, the strict selection of
receptors, and the early diagnosis of postoperative complications (3).
Thus, approximately 124 700 HTx have been performed since Barnard’s team
performed the first successful HTx in 1967, with approximately 5 000
transplants per year to date (2,4).
These reports include mostly data from Europe and North America (5).
However, the Latin American and Caribbean Transplantation Society
reports a registry of 9 000 patients with HTx by 2016 in Latin America.
In its registry, Peru shows around 97 HTx since 1993, considered one of
the lowest regional rates (6). It was not until 1972 that the first HTx
was carried out in Peru by Molina’s team at Hospital Nacional Edgardo
Rebagliati Martins. However, it was an isolated case, and it was until
1993 when the first Peruvian HTx National Program was created with
Pacheco’s team with some continuity (7). For a while since the late
1990s, HTxs were not carried out. It is impressive due to changes in
government policy and sociocultural factors, as in other developing
countries of the time, until the program was restarted at the Peruvian
National Heart Institute (INCOR) in 2010 (2,8). Since then, it has been
the only national reference center for HTx in Peru.
Given the lack of systematic reporting of experiences with regional
programs, we sought to compare transplant recipients’ profiles and
survival from the Peruvian experience versus international benchmark
results. Furthermore, contributing to the global understanding of these
procedures’ performance. Therefore, this study’s objective was to report
the results of a 10-year HTX experience at INCOR.