Heart transplantation in Jehovah's Witnesses. An initial experience and follow-up
C. M. Burnett, J. M. Duncan, J. D. Vega, J. L. Lonquist, M. S. Sweeney and O. H. Frazier
Department of Cardiac Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston 77225-0345.
More than 25 years of experience performing heart surgery on Jehovah's
Witnesses has culminated in successful cardiac transplantation without
administering blood products in five patients (mean age, 44.4 +/- 8.3
years) of this faith. The use of blood-conserving methods, iron
supplementation, bone marrow-sparing maintenance immunotherapy, and brisk
postoperative diuresis has added to the efficacy of cardiac transplantation
in these patients. No perioperative deaths occurred, and early follow-up
studies have shown that these patients have not been more susceptible to
higher graft rejection rates due to the lack of pretransplant blood
transfusions. As more Jehovah's Witnesses undergo heart transplantation in
the future, comparison with other recipients who allow pretransplant blood
transfusions may lead to a better understanding of rejection immunobiology.
We conclude that cardiac transplants may be safely offered to Jehovah's
Witnesses without fear of a uniformly poor outcome.
