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.