ABSTRACT
Evidence on characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing heart transplantation for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) associated cardiomyopathy is limited to case reports. Of all 6,332 patients aged ≥18 years undergoing heart transplantation from July 2020 through May 2022 in the United Network for Organ Sharing database, 12 (0.2%) patients had COVID-19 myocarditis and 98 (1.6%) patients with the same level of care had non-COVID-19 myocarditis. Their median age was 49 (range 19-74) years. All patients were hospitalized in the intensive care unit and 92.7% (n = 102) were on life support prior to transplantation. No patients with COVID-19 myocarditis required ventilation while waitlisted. Survival free from graft failure was 100% among COVID-19 patients and 88.5% among non-COVID-19 patients at a median of 257 (range 0-427) days post-transplant. These findings indicate that transplantation is rarely performed for COVID-19 related cardiomyopathy in the United States, yet early outcomes appear favorable in select patients.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Cardiomyopathies , Heart Transplantation , Adult , Aged , Humans , Middle Aged , Young Adult , Cardiomyopathies/epidemiology , Cardiomyopathies/etiology , Cardiomyopathies/surgery , COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/epidemiology , Heart Transplantation/adverse effects , Heart Transplantation/statistics & numerical data , Muscular Diseases/complications , Myocarditis/etiology , Myocarditis/surgery , Treatment Outcome , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Evidence on characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing heart transplantation for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) associated cardiomyopathy is limited to case reports. Of all 6332 patients aged ≥18 years undergoing heart transplant from July 2020 through May 2022 in the United Network for Organ Sharing database, 12 (0.2%) patients had COVID-19 myocarditis and 98 (1.6%) patients with the same level of care had non-COVID-19 myocarditis. Their median age was 49 (range 19-74) years. All patients were hospitalized in the intensive care unit and 92.7% (n=102) were on life support prior to transplantation. No patients with COVID-19 myocarditis required ventilation whilst waitlisted. Survival free from graft failure was 100% among COVID-19 patients and 88.5% among non-COVID-19 patients at a median of 257 (range 0-427) days post-transplant. These findings indicate that transplantation is rarely performed for COVID-19 related cardiomyopathy in the United States, yet early outcomes appear favorable in select patients.