Scientific Sessions

Heart transplantation remains the gold standard treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure who are unresponsive to medical therapy. It involves replacing a diseased heart with a healthy donor organ, restoring normal cardiac function and significantly improving survival and quality of life. Advances in donor-recipient matching, immunosuppressive therapy, and perioperative care have improved post-transplant outcomes, while strategies to reduce organ rejection, infection, and long-term complications continue to evolve. Careful patient selection, monitoring, and lifelong follow-up are essential to maximize graft survival and overall prognosis.

Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices, including left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), right ventricular assist devices (RVADs), and total artificial hearts (TAH), provide life-sustaining therapy for patients awaiting transplantation or those ineligible for transplant. These devices improve cardiac output, reduce symptoms of heart failure, and enhance end-organ perfusion. Technological advancements have led to smaller, more durable, and less invasive devices with lower complication rates. In addition, temporary MCS options such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provide short-term support in acute cardiac failure. The integration of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support represents a multidisciplinary, precision-based approach that extends survival, improves functional capacity, and offers hope to patients with severe, otherwise untreatable cardiac conditions.