When Heart Transplants for Kids Go Wrong: Stanford’s Startling Discovery

A new study by Stanford Medicine highlights flaws in the U.S. pediatric heart transplant waitlist, showing that the current system fails to prioritize the sickest children.

The study suggests a shift towards a more nuanced approach, using a range of health indicators to assign risk scores and improve survival rates.

According to a new study led by Stanford Medicine experts, the method used across the United States to wait-list children for heart transplants does not consistently rank the sickest patients first.

The study will be published today (August 5) in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Need for System Reform
Adding nuance to the wait-list system by accounting for more health factors could reduce children’s risk of dying while they await donor hearts, according to the study’s authors. A revision to the way donor hearts are assigned is already in process. The study adds evidence for why it is needed, they said.