Adults with congenital heart disease experience worse short- and mid-term graft survival following heart transplantation from DCD donors: The early US experience.

Summary: Imagine needing a new heart because you were born with heart problems. Doctors are finding more hearts to use by taking them from donors whose hearts have stopped beating (called DCD). But is this safe? A new study looked at over 700 adults born with heart defects who got a new heart. They found that hearts from donors whose hearts had stopped beating didn't work as well as hearts from brain-dead donors. People who got these DCD hearts had a higher chance of their new heart failing in the first three months and up to three years later. Because of this, doctors need to be very careful when giving these types of hearts to adults with lifelong heart problems.