Same-sex heart transplants work better

According to a study conducted by Nishant D. Patel, B.A., Stuart D. Russell, M.D., William A. Baumgartner, M.D., Ashish S. Shah, M.D., and John V. Conte, M.D. and reported in Gender Matching Aids Long-term Survival After Heart Transplants, Science Daily, Nov. 13, 2008:

Gender matching between donors and recipients is important to short- and long-term survival in heart transplantation, according to a retrospective study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.

“Heart size would seem to be the most obvious factor; beyond that, no one knows why sex matching is important to transplant survival,” said Eric Weiss, M.D.

Matching donor and recipient by gender resulted in:

• 13 percent lower risk of graft rejection within the first year;
• 14 percent lower rate of graft rejection over the study period;
• 25 percent drop in 30-day death rate; and
• 20 percent lower one-year death rate.