because as many as one in four babies awaiting a heart transplant dies while on the waiting list, according to the study.
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I wonder how many babies who receive a heart transplant live five years? How many make it this far even if the donor baby did not have cardiac death.
I wonder how many make it to one year after they receive the transplant?
By the way, a dear friend of mine had a baby with serious heart defects. The little boy died at 2 months before he could get a heart transplant. The couple then had 2 more children. One needed heart surgery at the age of 5 and is doing well.
I didn’t find a five-year number, but pediatric (under age 18) survival at three years is 80 percent.
"At the time of the evaluation in 2006, 52 patients (74%) of the transplants patients were alive. The 30-day mortality rate was 6%. The oldest patient was 19 years old and the longest surviving patient was 16 years post-transplantation. For the study population as a whole, the one-year survival rate was 84%; the five-year rate was 65%; and the 10-year rate was 53%."
From here: http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/852571020057CCF6852572DB0068D520
One important note: "It was also found that among those patients who underwent transplantation starting in 1996, the survival rates increased to 88% at one year and to 85% at 10 year. For ABO-incompatible patients, all were alive, with 2.5 years being the longest post-transplantation survival."
So more recent transplant patients have better survival rates, presumably due to better techniques and therapies.
I wonder how many make it to one year after they receive the transplant?
See above.
By the way, a dear friend of mine had a baby with serious heart defects. The little boy died at 2 months before he could get a heart transplant. The couple then had 2 more children. One needed heart surgery at the age of 5 and is doing well.
I'm so sorry for your friend. We have a neighbor whose grandson had a transplant at the age of a few months. He is 4 or 5 now and is fine. He goes for frequent checkups and is doing well so far.