Computer algorithm shows need for high-volume care for heart, lung transplant patients

Editor's Note

Using a computerized mathematical model, Johns Hopkins researches investigated whether they could improve heart and lung transplants by transferring patients from low- to high-volume transplant centers.

Among the findings:

• For heart transplants, 10 lives were saved after one center closure, and 240 lives were saved after up to five center closures per region, resulting in 1,624 patient referrals.
• For lung transplants, lives saved ranged from 29 after one center closure per region to 240 after five center closures, resulting in 2,999 patient referrals.

The researchers say that their next step will be to include best performing centers to see what they do differently from smaller centers to save more lives.

We simulated the impact of regionalization of isolated heart and lung transplantation within United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) regions. Overall, 12 594 orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) patients across 135 centers and 12 300 orthotopic lung transplantation (OLT) patients across 67 centers were included in the study.