What is domino heart transplantation?

What is domino heart transplantation?

In domino heart transplantation, the donor receives heart lung transplantation. The excised heart is transplanted to another recipient so that the donor for recipient of domino heart transplantation is alive, unlike the conventional donor who is brain dead.

In one report of 10 cases of domino heart transplantation, one year survival of donor was 60% while that of recipient was 90% [1]. It worthwhile noting that donors had terminal cardio pneumopathy (mostly primary pulmonary hypertension, one case of Eisenmenger syndrome and one each of cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and bronchiolitis obliterans)  while recipients had either ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy or valvular heart disease.

Reference

1. Raffa GM, Pellegrini C, Vigano M. Domino heart transplantation: long-term outcome of recipients and their living donors: single center experience. Transplant Proc. 2010 Nov;42(9):3688-93.