ISSN: 1885-5857 Impact factor 2023 7.2
Vol. 78. Num. 5.
Pages 465-472 (May 2025)

Review article
Heart transplant as treatment for cardiogenic shock: an effective strategy or a “Spanish exception”?

Trasplante cardiaco como tratamiento del shock cardiogénico: ¿una estrategia eficiente o una «excepción española»?

Francisco José Hernández-PérezabAlba Martín-CentellasabMercedes Rivas-LasarteabCristina MitroiabManuel Gómez-BuenoabcJavier Segovia-Cuberoabc

Options

Imagen extra
Rev Esp Cardiol. 2025;78:465-72
Abstract

Cardiogenic shock remains one of the main challenges in modern cardiovascular medicine. In Spain, urgent cardiac transplantation is the most widely used heart replacement therapy fin eligible patients who do not achieve cardiac recovery. However, this approach has significant implications related to the principle of equity, influenced by the characteristics of the recipient, the donor, and organ access. When selecting a recipient, multiorgan failure must first be addressed before considering transplantation. At the same time, it is essential to expand the donor pool through various strategies to meet the growing demand, even if it involves using suboptimal organs. Given the scarcity of donors and favorable outcomes, long-term left ventricular assist devices should be considered as an alternative to transplantation. Finally, designing organ distribution criteria remains a constantly evolving challenge, as there is no universal system that can address all the issues involved. Allocating organs to the most critically ill patients can provide substantial individual benefits, as long as it does not significantly compromise the common good.

Keywords

Cardiogenic shock
Heart transplant
Cardiac assist device

Identify yourself

Not yet a subscriber to the journal?

Purchase access to the article

By purchasing the article, the PDF of the same can be downloaded

Price: 19,34 €

Phone for incidents

Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm (GMT+1) except for the months of July and August, which will be from 9am to 3pm

Calls from Spain 932 415 960
Calls from outside Spain +34 932 415 960
Copyright © 2024. Sociedad Española de Cardiología
Are you a healthcare professional authorized to prescribe or dispense medications?