Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for bridge to heart transplantation among children in the United States: analysis of data from the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network and Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry.

Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has served for >2 decades as the standard of care for US children requiring mechanical support as a bridge to heart transplantation. Objective data on the safety and efficacy of ECMO for this indication are limited. We describe the outcomes of ECMO as a bridge to heart transplantation to serve as performance benchmarks for emerging miniaturized assist devices intended to replace ECMO.

Outcomes of heart transplantation using donor hearts from infants with sudden infant death syndrome.

Background: Uncertainty exists whether hearts from infants who have died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are acceptable for transplantation because the mechanism of death in SIDS remains unclear. We analyzed post-transplant outcomes in infants who received a heart from a donor where SIDS was the primary cause of brain death.

Methods: This retrospective multicenter cohort study used data from the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN).

Impact of ABO-incompatible listing on wait-list outcomes among infants listed for heart transplantation in the United States: a propensity analysis.

Background: The purported advantage of ABO-incompatible (ABO-I) listing is to reduce wait times and wait-list mortality among infants awaiting heart transplantation. We sought to describe recent trends in ABO-I listing for US infants and to determine the impact of ABO-I listing on wait times and wait-list mortality.

Methods And Results: In this multicenter retrospective cohort study using Organ Procurement and Transplant Network data, infants<12 months of age listed for heart transplantation between 1999 and 2008 (n=1331) were analyzed.

Incidence and risk factors for mortality in infants awaiting heart transplantation in the USA.

Background: Infants awaiting heart transplantation (HT) face the highest wait-list mortality among all children and adults listed for HT in the USA. We sought to determine the risk of death for infants <12 months old while awaiting HT in the current era, and to identify the principle risk factors associated with wait-list mortality.

Methods: We analyzed outcomes for all infants listed for HT in the USA from January 1999 to July 2006, using data reported to the U.

Waiting list mortality among children listed for heart transplantation in the United States.

Background: Children listed for heart transplantation face the highest waiting list mortality in solid-organ transplantation medicine. We examined waiting list mortality since the pediatric heart allocation system was revised in 1999 to determine whether the revised allocation system is prioritizing patients optimally and to identify specific high-risk populations that may benefit from emerging pediatric cardiac assist devices.

Methods And Results: We conducted a multicenter cohort study using the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Device closure rates of simple atrial septal defects optimized by the STARFlex device.

Objectives: This study sought to review the outcomes of 3 generations of closure devices for secundum atrial septal defects (ASDs) at a single institution.

Background: Transcatheter closure of ASDs is now increasingly performed with devices that have been modified over time to improve performance.

Methods: A review of prospective clinical trials of Clamshell (C.