Heart transplantation in patients bridged with mechanical circulatory support: outcome comparison with matched controls

AIMS: Due to the shortage of heart donors, increasing numbers of heart transplantation (HTx) candidates are receiving long‐term mechanical circulatory support (MCS) as bridge‐to‐transplantation. Treatment with MCS is associated with increased formation of anti‐human leukocyte antigen antibodies (allosensitization), but whether this affects post‐HTx outcomes is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included all adult patients who received long‐term MCS as bridge‐to‐transplantation and underwent subsequent HTx at our centre between 2008 and 2018. We also enrolled medically treated HTx recipients without prior MCS as controls. These controls were matched by age, sex, diagnosis, and transplantation era. Outcome parameters were compared between the two study groups. A total of 126 patients (48 ± 15 years, 84% male) were included of whom 64 were bridged with MCS and 62 were matched controls. Pre‐HTx allosensitization occurred more frequently in the MCS group than in the control group (27% vs. 11%, P = 0.03). At post‐HTx year 10, the overall survival probability was 84% among patients treated with MCS and 90% among those medically managed (P = 0.32). At post‐HTx year 1, freedom from treated rejections (≥ISHLT 2R) was 69% in the MCS group and 70% in the control group (P = 0.94); and freedom from any rejection was 8% and 5%, respectively (P = 0.98). There were no differences in renal function or cardiac allograft vasculopathy (grade ≥ 1) between groups at 1, 3, and 5 years post‐HTx. CONCLUSIONS: Although patients treated with MCS had a higher frequency of pre‐HTx allosensitization, there were no significant differences in post‐HTx graft survival, biopsy‐proven rejections, or renal function as compared with patients not bridged with MCS.