De eerste Nederlandse ervaringen met harttransplantatie

– Between June 1984 and December 1985, 79 patients have been referred for consideration of heart transplantation in the University Hospital Dijkzigt in Rotterdam. This hospital has a joint programme in cooperation with the University Hospital Leiden and the St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein. Ten of these patients received a transplant in 1984 and 1985 and two other patients were on the waiting list late in 1985. Eleven of the referred patients died during the evaluation phase or ‘on the waiting list’. All ten transplanted patients are in excellent condition. Four patients resumed their work. After transplantation (median follow up 7.7 months) rejection therapy was given 24 times, while the patients suffered from 11 infection periods. Heart transplantation can be performed with good clinical results in carefully selected patients. It is expected that the number of patients to undergo heart transplantation will gradually increase.