[Spanish registry on heart transplantation. 13th official report of the working group on heart transplantation of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (years 1984-2001)].

This report describes the general characteristics and results of heart transplantation in Spain after including the data from 2001. In that year 341 heart transplantations were performed. Since 1984, a total of 3,786 procedures have been performed. The average clinical profile of the patient receiving a heart transplant in Spain is a male about 50 years-old, blood group A, with a non-revascularizable coronary artery disease and IV/IV functional condition (NYHA). The percentage of emergency heart transplantations performed in 2001 was 19%, slightly lower than 20% to 25% in earlier years. The average early mortality rate in the last 10 years is 15%. After adding the 2001 results to those of previous years, a slight increase can be seen in the survival rate. The probability of survival in the first, fifth and tenth years was 76%, 63%, and 50%, respectively. The most frequent cause of death is acute graft failure in the first month, infection and rejection in the first year, and tumors and the combination of vascular disease of the graft with sudden death in the long term. Comparative analysis of survival rates shows that our long-term results are slightly better than those published in literature. However, we face a real challenge in our efforts to improve the early results of transplantation.