Effect of receiving a heart transplant: analysis of a national cohort entered on to a waiting list, stratified by heart failure severity Commentary: Time for a controlled trial?

Abstract

Cardiac transplantation in Germany is currently associated with a survival benefit only in patients with a predicted high risk of dying on the waiting list. Patients with a predicted low or medium risk have no reduction in mortality risk associated with transplantation; they should be managed with organ saving approaches rather than transplantation.