Matching High-Risk Recipients With Marginal Donor Hearts Is a Clinically Effective Strategy

Alternate listing transplantation is associated with greater morbidity and resource utilization compared with standard transplantation. However, this strategy offers a median survival of 5.2 years to patients who would otherwise be expected to live 1 year, and therefore, may be reasonably applied to expand the benefits of transplantation. Further studies examining the costs and quality of life related to this approach are needed.