Changes in etiology, cause of death, survival, and mortality rates in cardiac transplant patients from 1998 to 2011

We retrospectively analyzed changes in heart failure etiology, causes of death, mortality and survival rates in cardiac transplant patients from 1998 to 2011. A total of 144 patients (112 men, 32 women; mean age 40.2±14.3 years) underwent cardiac transplantation between February 1998 and January 2011. The patients were divided into two groups; hence, 63 patients (group 1; mean age 42.5±12.6 years) receiving transplantation up to January 2006, and 81 patients (group 2; mean age 38.4±15.3 years) receiving transplantation from 2006 to 2011. In the latter period, a ventricular assist device was used in 17 patients before transplantation. Dilated cardiomyopathy was the main cause of heart transplantation in both groups (71.4% vs. 74.1%). Overall mortality, in-hospital mortality (