The International Thoracic Organ Transplant Registry of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation: 37th adult heart transplantation report—2020; focus on deceased donor characteristics

Heart transplantation continues to be limited by a paucity of donor organs despite innovations in organ procurement and organ preservation, greater willingness to accept marginal hearts (such as those from older donors with medical comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, left ventricular [LV] hypertrophy, and LV dysfunction), and use of hearts from donors who died of a drug overdose, donors with hepatitis C viremia, and donors after circulatory death. 1 Khush KK. Donor selection in the modern era. Ann Cardiothorac Surg. 2018; 7: 126-134 Crossref PubMed Scopus (34) Google Scholar ,2 Hsich EM. Matching the market for heart transplantation. Circ Heart Fail. 2016; 9e002679 Crossref PubMed Scopus (59) Google Scholar These developments have expanded the donor pool and have changed perceptions and practices with respect to consideration of heart transplant donors. The goal of this focused report is to document the changes that have taken place in the adult heart transplant donor pool over the years and to identify important donor characteristics and transplant processes that influence post-transplant outcomes.