Partial heart transplantation (PHT) has emerged as a new treatment strategy to correct unrepairable heart valve dysfunction in pediatric patients. PHT selectively replaces the dysfunctional components of the recipient's heart and spares the native ventricles. As a result, the transplant biology of PHTs differs from heart transplants. Notably, donor hearts that are unsuitable for whole heart transplantation can be used, graft preservation can be prolonged and immunosuppression levels can be lowered. These nuances of PHT transplant biology have important implications for organizational aspects of PHT clinical application.
Keywords: cryopreservation; donor heart allocation; ethical considerations; immunosuppression; partial heart transplantation; pediatric cardiac transplantation.
Partial heart transplantation (PHT) is a new way to treat children with heart defects that affect the heart valves. PHT does not replace the entire heart. Instead, PHT only replaces the part of the heart that does not function well. As a result, PHTs behave differently from heart transplants. PHT can use more donor hearts, the donor hearts can be preserved for longer, and the immune system does not need to be suppressed as much. These differences in the biology mean that the organization of PHT also differs from heart transplantation.